Size Oriented Metrics in Software Engineering

Working of Size-oriented Software Metrics,

Size-oriented metrics are a direct measure of software and the development process. Effort (time), money spent, KLOC (thousands of lines of code), pages of documentation written, errors, and individuals on the project are examples of these measures.

The task's output is quantified in terms of LOCs, Function Points, and other metrics, and variations in the size of the software are tracked as the project progresses through its life cycle.

If a software company keeps simple records, we can make a table of Size Oriented metrics like the one below.

Line Of Code(LOC) Metrics

The term "lines of code" (LOC) refers to a statistic commonly used to assess the size of a software programme or codebase. It's a generic identifier derived from the number of code lines required to create a programme.

It is one of the first and most fundamental metrics for determining the size of a computer programme. It is commonly used to calculate and compare programmers' productivity. 

These metrics are computed by normalizing quality and productivity measures by using product size as a metric.

Lines of code can also be referred to as "source lines of code" (SLOC), also used to calculate the number of lines in a codebase.

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Advantage of LOC

• In cost estimate, this is the most commonly used metric.
• When compared to this statistic, its alternatives have numerous flaws.
• Estimating the effort is extremely simple.

Disadvantages of LOC

• Increases productivity while allowing for more code lines to be written.
• Less efficient code.
• It makes no allowance for intricacy.

Token Count

A computer programme is a collection of tokens classed as operators or operands in these metrics. These basic symbols can be used to describe all software science measurements. Tokens are the symbols that are used to represent something.

The fundamental measures are as follows:

n1 is the number of distinct operators.

n2 is the number of separate operands.

N1 is the total number of instances of each operator.

N2 is the total number of occurrences of operands.

The program's size can be stated as N = N1 + N2 in terms of total tokens used.

Function Count

A larger unit called a module can estimate the size of a primary software product rather than the LOC measure. A module is a reusable code piece that may be compiled independently. The number of modules in an extensive software system is more accessible to anticipate than the number of lines of code. 

Consider a software product that requires n modules. The module's size is typically between 50 and 60 lines of code. As a result, the scope of this software product is estimated to be around n x 60 lines of code.

 However, this metric necessitates exact and tight constraints for segmenting a programme into modules. This measure may not be as valuable as it may be due to the lack of these restrictions.

One or more functions can make up a module. A function in a programme is a collection of executable statements that performs a particular purpose. A function's number of lines of code should be kept to a minimum. Because human memory is finite, a programmer will not complete a task efficiently if the amount of data to be manipulated is large.

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The Benefits of Size Oriented Metrics

• Once the software is completed, it is pretty simple to calculate.
• It is an essential parameter in many software development models, such as cost and effort estimation, and it is one of the most important.
• Productivity can also be measured in terms of size.
• Memory requirements can also be determined based on the size of the device.
• Software development artifact that can be easily enumerated is one of the Advantages of Size Oriented Metrics.
• As a critical input, LOC is used by several existing algorithms.
• There is already a massive corpus of literature and data based on LOC.

The penalty of Size Oriented Metrics

• This metric is influenced by the programming language used.
• This method is well-thought-out in terms of programming language
• Non-procedural languages are not supported.
• Estimating LOC in the early stages of development can be tricky.
• Although it is simple to measure, it is challenging for users to comprehend.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are Metrics used in Software Engineering?
   Metrics are helpful for both developers and development team leaders, and they're a vital part of quality assurance, management, debugging, performance, and cost estimation.
    
2. What are the Indicators in Software Metrics?
   Indicators are measures that can evaluate project performance or process improvement. An indication could represent the behaviour of the statistics overtime or the ratio of two metrics.
    
3. When should Data be Collected in Metrics Program?
   Metrics are used to monitor a system over time and capture a value related to it at a particular time. Metrics are often collected once per second, per minute, or at another regular interval.
    
4. What is SLOC?
   SLOC stands for Source Lines Of Codes. It's a tally of how many lines of code are in a given programme or system. Various methods exist to assist developers in estimating the SLOC count, which is frequently used to communicate the size of a project to managers.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed Size-Oriented Software Metrics. We saw Lines of Codes, Token Count, and Function Count in Size Metrics. We also ran through the Pors and Cons of Size-Oriented Metrics.

You can learn more about the Roles of a Software engineer. The articles based on  Life of a Software Engineer and Journey to become a Software Engineer will also increase your knowledge in the Software Engineering field.

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