ITR: Architectural Level Software Metrics

Product line engineering (PLE) is a specialized form of software reuse that has recently attracted the interest of software researchers and practitioners. Software architecture is generally perceived as an effective artifact to control the evolution of product lines; it embodies earliest decisions for the product line and provides a framework within which reusable components can be developed. The focus in this project is on defining and investigating metrics for domain architectures. The project adopts a three-tiered approach,

involving a distinction between qualitative features, quantitative factors, and computable metrics. The link between qualitative features and quantitative factors is investigated by analytical means (to derive deterministic or probabilistic relationships between them), and the link between quantitative factors and computable metrics is investigated by empirical means (to validate the proposed metrics). A compiler will be developed to derive metrics tables for product line architectures from formal architectural descriptions. This project will enhance our understanding of quality attributes of product line architectures, and will enable us to better quantify these attributes.