Software package metrics

This article describes various software package metrics. They have been mentioned by Robert Cecil Martin in his Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices book (2002).

The term software package, as it is used here, refers to a group of related classes (in the field of object-oriented programming).

• Number of Classes and Interfaces: The number of concrete and abstract classes (and interfaces) in the package is an indicator of the extensibility of the package.
• Afferent Couplings (Ca): The number of classes in other packages that depend upon classes within the package is an indicator of the package's responsibility. Afferent = incoming.
• Efferent Couplings (Ce): The number of classes in other packages that the classes in the package depend upon is an indicator of the package's dependence on externalities. Efferent = outgoing.
• Abstractness (A): The ratio of the number of abstract classes (and interfaces) in the analyzed package to the total number of classes in the analyzed package. The range for this metric is 0 to 1, with A=0 indicating a completely concrete package and A=1 indicating a completely abstract package.
• Instability (I): The ratio of efferent coupling (Ce) to total coupling (Ce + Ca) such that I = Ce / (Ce + Ca). This metric is an indicator of the package's resilience to change. The range for this metric is 0 to 1, with I=0 indicating a completely stable package and I=1 indicating a completely unstable package.
• Distance from the Main Sequence (D): The perpendicular distance of a package from the idealized line A + I = 1. D is calculated as D = | A + I - 1 |. This metric is an indicator of the package's balance between abstractness and stability. A package squarely on the main sequence is optimally balanced with respect to its abstractness and stability. Ideal packages are either completely abstract and stable (I=0, A=1) or completely concrete and unstable (I=1, A=0). The range for this metric is 0 to 1, with D=0 indicating a package that is coincident with the main sequence and D=1 indicating a package that is as far from the main sequence as possible.
• Package Dependency Cycles: Package dependency cycles are reported along with the hierarchical paths of packages participating in package dependency cycles.

See also

• Dependency inversion principle – a method to reduce coupling (Martin 2002:127).

References

• Robert Cecil Martin (2002). Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices. Pearson Education. ISBN 0-13-597444-5.

External links

• OO Metrics tutorial explains package metrics with examples, but gets the Instability index wrong; see page 262 of Martin's Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices. Pearson Education. ISBN 0-13-597444-5.