The purpose of the research is to develop more efficient frameworks for supporting design model development. The evolution of these frameworks has occurred in two areas: (1) knowledge representation schemes for the design model and (2) procedures for model structure generation. The original representation scheme for the design model was the System Entity Structure (SES). The SES was subsequently enhanced by other representation schemes to create FRASES (Frame & Rules Associated SES). Furthermore, FRASES was further converted into object-oriented representation. The procedures for manipulating the above representation schemes involved search, reasoning, constraint satisfaction, and message passing. Finally, a distributed approach was proposed, indicating a future trend. The methodologies offered by artificial intelligence, simulation modelling, and software engineering were adopted to support the research.

Software measurement has been of interest to software engineers for almost as long as software has been developed. While the evolution of systematic processes of software development has seen a trend away from reliance on the expertise of individual software developers alone to ensure software quality, systematic processes of software measure development have not evolved to a similar extent. The problem with defining software measures according to an informal process is that the quality of measures can be highly dependent on the expertise of the individual measure developers. If a systematic process of software measure development were defined, that promoted transparency and objectivity in measure development, then this systematic process could support the development of high quality measures by less expert users. In this thesis, a systematic process of software descriptive measure development is described and demonstrated. The approach taken to defining this systematic process is to investigate the various processes by which currently available software descriptive measures have been developed. These processes are then amalgamated with an established systematic method of measure development used in the field of social science. Applying the stages of measure development thus identified to the task of developing measures to describe C++ class and object modularity tests the feasibility of this measure development process. Insights gained through this testing provide feedback to further refine the process. In this way, a systematic process of descriptive software measure development is defined alongside the definition of a set of measures that provide a detailed description of the complex software characteristic of modularity. The products of each stage of this measure development process assist a user to validate the measures with respect to an intended application, and to analyse and interpret the measurement data obtained by applying the measures to a software system. This is demonstrated in a case study that also provides an indirect indication of the quality of the process by which the measures were developed. The major contribution of this work is the systematic process of descriptive software measure development, as it has a wide application and can be used to develop measures to describe many software characteristics of interest. A second important contribution is made by the set of measures of C++ class and object modularity developed to demonstrate this systematic descriptive measure development process.

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2002. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 75 p.; also contains graphics. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Software measurement has been of interest to software engineers for almost as long as software has been developed. While the evolution of systematic processes of software development has seen a trend away from reliance on the expertise of individual software developers alone to ensure software quality, systematic processes of software measure development have not evolved to a similar extent. The problem with defining software measures according to an informal process is that the quality of measures can be highly dependent on the expertise of the individual measure developers. If a systematic process of software measure development were defined, that promoted transparency and objectivity in measure development, then this systematic process could support the development of high quality measures by less expert users. In this thesis, a systematic process of software descriptive measure development is described and demonstrated. The approach taken to defining this systematic process is to investigate the various processes by which currently available software descriptive measures have been developed. These processes are then amalgamated with an established systematic method of measure development used in the field of social science. Applying the stages of measure development thus identified to the task of developing measures to describe C++ class and object modularity tests the feasibility of this measure development process. Insights gained through this testing provide feedback to further refine the process. In this way, a systematic process of descriptive software measure development is defined alongside the definition of a set of measures that provide a detailed description of the complex software characteristic of modularity. The products of each stage of this measure development process assist a user to validate the measures with respect to an intended application, and to analyse and interpret the measurement data obtained by applying the measures to a software system. This is demonstrated in a case study that also provides an indirect indication of the quality of the process by which the measures were developed. The major contribution of this work is the systematic process of descriptive software measure development, as it has a wide application and can be used to develop measures to describe many software characteristics of interest. A second important contribution is made by the set of measures of C++ class and object modularity developed to demonstrate this systematic descriptive measure development process.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Computer Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL:http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99311

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-136). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 121 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-121).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: server invalidation; distributed object management; object relationships; web caching; change characteristics; object composition; cache consistency. Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-163).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.