Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

School of Information Science

Chidamber & Kemerer

Suite of Metrics
Camargo Cruz Ana Erika
Supervisor: Ochimizu Koichiro
May 2008

CK Metrics: Outline
Objective
Definition & Guidelines
Thresholds
CK in the literature (other uses)
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CK Metrics: Objective
CK metrics were designed [1]:
To measure unique aspects of the OO approach.
To measure complexity of the design.
To improve the development of the software

HOW?
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CK Metrics: Objective
SW development Improvement
Managers can improve the development of the SW by :
Analysing CK metrics through the identification of
outlying values (extreme deviations), which may be a
signal of:
high complexity and/or
possible design violations
Taking managerial decisions, such as:
Re-designing and/or assigning extra or higher
skilled resources (to develop, to test and to
maintain the SW).

CK Metrics: Definition
WMC (Weighted Methods per Class)

Definition
WMC is the sum of the complexity of the methods of a class.
WMC = Number of Methods (NOM), when all methods complexity
are considered UNITY.

Viewpoints
WMC is a predictor of how much TIME and EFFORT is required to
develop and to maintain the class.
The larger NOM the greater the impact on children.
Classes with large NOM are likely to be more application specific,
limiting the possibility of RE-USE and making the EFFORT
expended one-shot investment.

Objective: Low

CK Metrics: Definition
DIT (Depth of Inheritance Tree)

Definition
The maximum length from the node to the root of the tree

Viewpoints
The greater values of DIT :
The greater the NOM it is likely to inherit, making more COMPLEX
to predict its behaviour
The greater the potential RE-USE of inherited methods
Small values of DIT in most of the systems classes may be an
indicator that designers are forsaking RE-USABILITY for simplicity
of UNDERSTANDING.

Objective: Trade-off
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CK Metrics: Definition
NOC (Number of Children)

Definition
Number of immediate subclasses subordinated to a class in the class
hierarchy

Viewpoints
The greater the NOC is:
the greater is the RE-USE
the greater is the probability of improper abstraction of the parent
class,
the greater the requirements of method's TESTING in that class.
Small values of NOC, may be an indicator of lack of communication
between different class designers.

Objective: Trade-off

CK Metrics: Definition
CBO (Coupling Between Objects)

Definition
It is a count of the number of other classes to which it is coupled

Viewpoints
Small values of CBO :
Improve MODULARITY and promote ENCAPSULATION
Indicates independence in the class, making easier its RE-USE
Makes easier to MAINTAIN and to TEST a class.

Objective: Low
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CK Metrics: Definition
RFC (Response for Class)

Definition
It is the number of methods of the class plus the number of methods
called by any of those methods.

Viewpoints
If a large numbers of methods are invoked from a class (RFC is
high):
TESTING and MAINTANACE of the Class becomes more
COMPLEX.

Objective: Low
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CK Metrics: Definition
LCOM (Lack of Cohesion of Methods)

Definition
Measures the dissimilarity of methods in a class via instanced
variables.

Viewpoints
Great values of LCOM:
Increases COMPLEXITY
Does not promotes ENCAPSULATION and implies classes
should probably be split into two or more subclasses
Helps to identified low-quality design

Objective: Low

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CK Metrics: Guidelines
METRIC

GOAL

LEVEL

COMPLEXITY
(To develop, to test
and to maintain)

RE-USABILITY

WMC

Low

DIT

Trade-off

NOC

Trade-off

CBO

Low

RFC

Low

LCOM

Low

But How much is Low and High ?

ENCAPSULATION,
MODULARITY

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CK Metrics: Thresholds
Thresholds of the CK metrics [2,3,4]:
Can not be determined before their use
Should be derived and use locally for each dataset
80th and 20th percentiles of the distributions can be
used to determine high and low values of the metrics.
Are not indicators of badness but indicators of
difference that needs to be investigated.
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CK in the Literature
CK Metrics & other Managerial performance indicators

Chidamber & Kemerer study the relation of CK

metrics with [2]:
Productivity
SIZE [LOC] / EFFORT of Development
[Hours]
Rework Effort for re-using classes
Effort to specify high-level design of classes
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CK in the Literature
CK Metrics & Maintenance effort

Li and Henry (1993) use CK metrics (among others)

to predict [5]:
Maintenance effort, which is measured by the
number of lines that have changed in a class
during 3 years that they have collected the
measurement .

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CK in the Literature
DIT & Maintenance effort

Daly et al. (1996) in his study concludes that[5]:

That subjects maintainig OO SW with three levels
of inheritance depth performed maintaince tasks
significantly quickier than those maintaining an
equivalent OO SW with no inheritance.

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CK in the Literature
DIT & Maintenance effort

However, Hand Harrisson (2000) used DIT metric to

demonstrate [5]:
That systems without inheritance are easier to
understand and modify than systems with 3 or 5
levels of inheritance.

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CK in the Literature
DIT & Maintenance effort

Poels (2001) uses DIT metric, and demonstrate [5]:

The extensive use of inheritance leads to modls
that are more difficult to modify.

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CK in the Literature
DIT & Maintenance effort

Prechelt (2003) concludes that [5]:

Programs with less inheritance were faster to
maintain and
The code maintenance effort is hardly correlated
with inheritance depth but rather depends on
other factors such as number of relevant
methods.

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CK in the Literature
CK Metrics & Fault-proneness prediction
Study

Input: Design Complexity

Metrics

Output

Prediction Technique

1996
Basili et al. [6]

Fault-prone classes

Multivariate Logistic
Regression

2000
Briand et al.[7]

Fault-prone classes

Multivariate Logistic
Regression

Fault ratio

General Regression
Neural Network

2005
Nachiappan et al.[9]

Fault ratio

Multiple Linear
Regression

2007
Olague et al.[10]

Fault-prone classes

Multivariate Logistic
Regression

2004
Kanmani et al.[8]

CK Metrics among others

CK, QMOOD

CK : Chidamber & Kemerer, QMOOD: Quality Metrics for Object Oriented Design

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Conclusion
CK metrics measure complexity of the design
There are no thresholds defined for the CK
metrics. However, they can be used identifying
outlaying values.
CK metrics (while measure from the code) have
been related to: fault-proneness, productivity,
rework effort, design effort and maintenance.
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References
[1] Chidamber Shyam, Kemerer Chris, A metrics suite for object oriented
design, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, June1994.
[2] Chidamber Shyam, Kemerer Chris, Darcy David, Managerial use of Metrics
for Object-Oriented Software: an Exploratory Analysis, IEEE Transactions
on software Engineering, August 1998.
[3] Linda Rosenberg, Applying and Interpreting Object Oriented Metrics,
Software Assurance Technology Conference, Utah, 1998.
[4] Stephen H. Kan, Metrics and models in software Quality Engineering,
Addison-Wesley, 2003.
[5] Genaros Marcela, Piattini Mario, Calero Coral, A Survey of Metrics for UML
Class Diagrams, Journal of Object Technology, Nov.-Dec 2005.

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References
[6] Victor R. Basili and Lionel C. Briand and Walcelio L. Melo, A Validation of ObjectOriented Design Metrics as Quality Indicators, IEEE Transactions on Software
engineering, Piscataway, NJ, USA, October 1996.
[7] Lionel C. Briand and J urgen W ust and John W. Daly and D. Victor Porter, Exploring the
relationships between design measures and software quality in object-oriented systems
Journal of Systems and Software,2000.
[8] Kanmani, S., and Uthariaraj V. Rymend, Object oriented software quality prediction using
general regression neural networks, SIGSOFT Soft. Eng. Notes, New York NY, USA,
2004.
[9] Nachiappan Nagappan, and Williams Laurie, Early estimation of software quality using
in-process testing metrics: a controlled case study , Proceedings of the third workshop
on Software quality, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. (2005)
[10] Hector M. Olague and Sampson Gholston and Stephen Quattlebaum, Empirical
Validation of Three Software Metrics Suites to Predict Fault-Proneness of ObjectOriented Classes Developed Using Highly Iterative or Agile Software Development
Processes, IEEE Transactions Software Engineering, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 2007.

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