Investigating quality factors in object-oriented designs

Abstract

This paper aims at empirically exploring the relationships between most of the existing coupling and cohesion measures for object-oriented (00) systems, and the faultproneness of 00 system classes. The underlying goal of such a study is to better understand the relationship between existing design measurement in 00 systems and the quality of the software developed. The study described here is a replication of an analogous stt.& conducted in an university environment with systems developed by students. In order to draw more general conclusions and to (dis)conJirm the results obtained there, we now replicated the study using data collected on an industrial system developed by professionals. Resul?s show that many of our Jindings are consistent across systems, despite the very disparate nature of the systems under stu& Some of the strong dimensions captured by the measures in each data set are visible in both the university and industrial case stua'y. For example, the frequency of method invocations appears to be the main driving factor of fault-proneness in all systems. However, there are also differences across studies which illustrate the fact that quality does not follow universal laws and that quality models must be developed locally, wherever needed.