Application of Artificial Neural Network for Predicting Maintainability Using Object-Oriented Metrics

Authors: K. K. Aggarwal, Yogesh Singh, Arvinder Kaur, Ruchika Malhotra

Abstract:

Importance of software quality is increasing leading to development of new sophisticated techniques, which can be used in constructing models for predicting quality attributes. One such technique is Artificial Neural Network (ANN). This paper examined the application of ANN for software quality prediction using Object- Oriented (OO) metrics. Quality estimation includes estimating maintainability of software. The dependent variable in our study was maintenance effort. The independent variables were principal components of eight OO metrics. The results showed that the Mean Absolute Relative Error (MARE) was 0.265 of ANN model. Thus we found that ANN method was useful in constructing software quality model.

Keywords: Software quality, Measurement, Metrics, Artificial neural network, Coupling, Cohesion, Inheritance, Principal component analysis.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1058483

References:

[1] A.Binkley and S.Schach, "Validation of the Coupling Dependency Metric as a risk Predictor", Proceedings in ICSE 98, 452-455, 1998.
[2] A.Lake, C.Cook, "Use of factor analysis to develop OOP software complexity metrics". Proc. 6th Annual Oregon Workshop on Software Metrics, Silver Falls, Oregon, 1994.
[3] B.Henderson-sellers, "Object-Oriented Metrics, Measures of Complexity", Prentice Hall, 1996.
[4] C.R.Kothari. "Research Methodology. Methods and Techniques", New Age International Limited.
[5] D.Tegarden, S. Sheetz, D.Monarchi, "A Software Complexity Model of Object-Oriented Systems. Decision Support Systems", vol. 13, pp.241- 262.
[6] G.Finnie and G. Witting, "AI Tools for Software Development Effort Estimation", International Conference on Software Engineering: Education and practice, 1996.
[7] J.Bieman, B.Kang, "Cohesion and Reuse in an Object-Oriented System", Proc. ACM Symp. Software Reusability (SSR-94), pp.259-262, 1995.
[8] J.Han, M. Kamber, "Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques", Harchort India Private Limited, 2001.
[9] K.El Emam , S.Benlarbi , N.Goel , Rai, "A Validation of Object- Oriented Metrics", Technical Report ERB-1063, NRC, 1999.
[10] K.K.Aggarwal, Yogesh Singh, Arvinder Kaur, "A Neural Net Based Approach to Test Oracle", ACM SIGSOFT, vol. 29, issue 3, 2004.
[11] K.K.Aggarwal, Yogesh Singh, Arvinder Kaur, Ruchika Malhotra, "Analysis of Object-Oriented Metrics", International Workshop on Software Measurement (IWSM), 2005.
[12] K.K.Aggarwal, Yogesh Singh, Arvinder Kaur, Ruchika Malhotra, "Empirical Study of Object-Oriented Metrics", Accepted to be published in Journal of Object-Technology.
[13] K.K.Aggarwal, Yogesh Singh, Arvinder Kaur, Ruchika Malhotra, "Software Reuse Metrics for Object-Oriented Systems", Third ACIS Int'l Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications (SERA'05), IEEE Computer Society, pp. 48-55, 2005.
[14] L.Briand , W.Daly and J. Wust, "Unified Framework for Cohesion Measurement in Object-Oriented Systems", Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 3, pp.65-117, 1998.
[15] L.Briand , W.Daly and J. Wust, "A Unified Framework for Coupling Measurement in Object-Oriented Systems. IEEE Transactions on software Engineering", Vol. 25, pp.91-121, 1999.
[16] L.Briand , W.Daly and J. Wust, "Exploring the relationships between design measures and software quality", Journal of Systems and Software, Vol. 5, pp.245-273, 2000.
[17] M.Cartwright, M.Shepperd, "An Empirical Investigation of an Object- Oriented Software System", IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering, 1999.
[18] M.Hitz, B. Montazeri, "Measuring Coupling and Cohesion in Object- Oriented Systems", Proc. Int. Symposium on Applied Corporate Computing, Monterrey, Mexico, 1995.
[19] M.Lorenz, and J.Kidd, "Object-Oriented Software Metrics", Prentice- Hall, 1994.
[20] R.Harrison, S.J.Counsell, and R.V.Nithi, "An Evaluation of MOOD set of Object-Oriented Software Metrics", IEEE Trans. Software Engineering, vol. SE-24, no.6, pp. 491-496, June 1998.
[21] S.Chidamber and C.F.Kamerer, "A metrics Suite for Object-Oriented Design", IEEE Trans. Software Engineering, vol. SE-20, no.6, 476-493, 1994.
[22] S.Chidamber, C. Kemerer, "Towards a Metrics Suite for Object Oriented design". Proc. Conference on Object-Oriented Programming: Systems, Languages and Applications (OOPSLA-91). Published in SIGPLAN Notices, vol 26 no. 11, pp.197-211, 1991.
[23] S.Chidamber, D. Darcy, C. Kemerer, "Managerial use of Metrics for Object-Oriented Software: An Exploratory Analysis", IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol.24 no.8, 629-639, 1998.
[24] T.Gyimothy , R.Ferenc , I.Siket , "Empirical validation of objectoriented metrics on open source software for fault prediction", IEEE Trans. Software Engineering, vol. 31, Issue 10, pp.897 - 910, Oct. 2005.
[25] T.M.Khoshgaftaar, E.D.Allen, J.P Hudepohl, S.J Aud,., "Application of neural networks to software quality modeling of a very large telecommunications system," IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 902--909, 1997.
[26] V.Basili, L.Briand, W.Melo, "A Validation of Object-Oriented Design Metrics as Quality Indicators", IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 22 no.10, pp. 751-761, 1996.
[27] W.Li, S.Henry, "Object-Oriented Metrics that Predict Maintainability", Journal of Systems and Software, vol 23 no.2, pp.111-122, 1993.
[28] Y.Lee, B.Liang, S.Wu and F.Wang, "Measuring the Coupling and Cohesion of an Object-Oriented program based on Information flow", 1995.
[29] Yu Ping, Ma Xiaoxing, Lu Jian , "Predicting Fault-Proneness using OO Metrics: An Industrial Case Study", CSMR 2002, Budapest, Hungary, pp.99-107, 2002.