UNIT - I

Software quality
In the context of software engineering, software quality measures how well software is designed (quality of design), and how well the software conforms to that design (quality of conformance), although there are several different definitions.

Software product quality

Product quality o conformance to requirements or program specification; related to Relia ility !cala ility o "orrectness "ompleteness a sence of ugs #ault$tolerance o %xtensi ility o &aintaina ility 'ocumentation

Software Quality Factors

( software quality factor is a non$functional requirement for a software program which is not called up y the customer)s contract, ut nevertheless is a desira le requirement which enhances the quality of the software program. *nderstanda ility "ompleteness &aintaina ility "onciseness Porta ility "onsistency +esta ility *sa ility Relia ility !tructured ness %fficiency !ecurity

Software Quality Measurement

Measurement of software quality factors
Understandability (re varia le names descriptive of the physical or functional property represented, 'o uniquely recogni-a le functions contain adequate comments so that their purpose is clear, (re deviations from forward logical flow adequately commented, (re all elements of an array functionally related, Completeness Conciseness Is all code reacha le, Is any code redundant, .ow many statements within loops could e placed outside the loop, thus reducing computation time, (re ranch decisions too complex, Portability 'oes the program depend upon system or li rary routines unique to a particular installation, .ave machine$dependent statements een flagged and commented, .as dependency on internal it representation of alphanumeric or special characters een avoided, +he effort required to transfer the program from one hardware/software system environment to another. Consistency Is one varia le name used to represent different physical entities in the program, 'oes the program contain only one representation for physical or mathematical constants, (re functionally similar arithmetic expressions similarly constructed, Is a consistent scheme for indentation used,)

e!elopin" a Set of Metrics

Quality Models
0hy a quality model, %na les quality comparison oth qualitatively and quantitatively .ierarchical models considers quality under a series of quality characteristics or criteria, each having a set of associated measures ormetrics com ined in a hierarchical nature into an overall assessment of quality

1uestions what criteria should e employed, how do they inter$relate, how can they e com ined to provide an overall assessment of quality,

&c"all2s &odel

#oe$m%s Model
#arry &' #oe$m is 3nown for his many contri utions to software engineering. .e was the first to identify software as the primary expense of future computer systems; he developed "4"4&4, the spiral model, wide and 'elphi, and many more contri utions through his involvement in industry and academia.

Metrics Measurement and (nalysis

T)* +,(- QU*STI,N M*T.IC (PP.,(C)

+he 5oal 1uestion &etric (51&) approach is ased upon the assumption that for an organi-ation to measure in a purposeful way it must first specify the goals for itself and its pro6ects, then it must trace those goals to the data that are intended to define those goals operationally, and finally provide a framewor3 for interpreting the data with respect to the stated goals. +hus it is important to ma3e clear, at least in general terms, what informational needs the organi-ation has, so that these needs for information can e quantified whenever possi le, and the quantified information can e analy-ed a to whether or not the goals are achieved.

+he approach was originally defined for evaluating defects for a set of pro6ects in the 7(!( 5oddard !pace #light "enter environment. +he result of the application of the 5oal 1uestion &etric approach application is the specification of a measurement system targeting a particular set of issues and a set of rules for the interpretation of the measurement data. +he resulting measurement model has three levels8 /' Conceptual le!el 0+,(-)8 ( goal is defined for an o 6ect, for a variety of reasons, with respect to various models of quality, from various points of view, relative to a particular environment. 4 6ects of measurement are Products8 (rtifacts, delivera les and documents that are produced during the system life cycle; %.g., specifications, designs, programs, test suites. Processes8 !oftware related activities normally associated with time; %.g., specifying, designing, testing, interviewing. Resources8 Items used y processes in order to produce their outputs; %.g., personnel, hardware, software, office space. 1' ,perational le!el 0QU*STI,N)8 ( set of questions is used to characteri-e the way the assessment/achievement of a specific goal is going to e performed ased on some characteri-ing model. 1uestions try to characteri-e the o 6ect of measurement (product, process, resource) with respect to a selected quality issue and to determine its quality from the selected viewpoint. 2' Quantitati!e le!el 0M*T.IC34 ( set of data is associated with every question in order to answer it in a quantitative way. +he data can e 4 6ective8 If they depend only on the o 6ect that is eing measured and not on the viewpoint from which they are ta3en; %.g., num er of versions of a document, staff hours spent on a tas3, si-e of a program. !u 6ective8 If they depend on oth the o 6ect that is eing measured and the viewpoint from which they are ta3en; %.g., reada ility of a text, level of user satisfaction.

+he complete 5oal 1uestion &etric model is as follows8

T)* +,(- QU*STI,N M*T.IC P.,C*SS ( 51& model is developed y identifying a set of quality and/or productivity goals, at corporate, division or pro6ect level; e.g., customer satisfaction, on$time delivery, improved performance. #rom those goals and ased upon models of the o 6ect of measurement, we derive questions that define those goals as completely as possi le. #or example, if it is to characteri-e a software system (e.g., an electronic mail pac3age, a word processor) with respect to a certain set of quality issues (e.g.,

porta ility across architectures), then a quality model of the product must e chosen that deals with those issues (e.g., list of functional features that can e implemented in different architectures). +he next step consists in specifying the measures that need to e collected in order to answer those questions, and to trac3 the conformance of products and processes to the goals. (fter the measures have een specified, we need to develop the data collection mechanisms, including validation and analysis mechanisms.

C,NC-USI,N In summary, the 5oal 1uestion &etric approach is a mechanism for defining and interpreting operational and measura le software. It can e used in isolation or, etter, within the context of a more general approach to software quality improvement. #igure elow outlines the asic roles and flows of information for this model.