Design metrics: an empirical analysis

The application of design metrics to software development. is considered. An empirical investigation is described, the goal of which is to identify design metrics that allow the software engineer to discriminate between designs and pinpoint design weaknesses, particularly with a view to minimising development effort. A design measure based upon information flows between modules is proposed and empirically validated by analysing 13 software systems. A highly significant correlation is found between this metric and development effort measured as computer connect time. By contrast, size-based design metrics are found to exhibit little association with effort