Jean Zolnowski
ABSTRACT
Webster defines complexity as the "quality or state of being: hard to separate, analyze, or solve; complicated; intricate; involved; having confusingly interrelated parts." This definition is certainly apropos of software and in fact the term program complexity is found often in discussions centered on software and its evaluation. An understanding of computer program complexity is considered necessary in comprehending how software is written and how a language is used.
- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. G & C Merriam Co., 1973.Google Scholar
- Gunning, R., How to take the fog out of writing. The Dartnell Corp., 1964.Google Scholar
- McCabe, T. J., "A complexity measure." IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering SE-2, 4 (December, 1976), pp. 308--320. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Sullivan, J. E., Measuring the complexity of computer software. MITRE Corporation, MTR-2648, Vol. V, June, 1973.Google Scholar
- Myers, G. T., "An extension to the cyclomatic measure of program complexity." SIGPLAN Notices 12. 10 (October, 1977), pp. 61--64. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hansen, W. J., "Measurement of Program Complexity by the Pair (Cyclomatic Number, Operator Count)." SIGPLAN Notices 13, 2 (March, 1978), pp. 29--33. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Peterson, W. W., Kasami, T. and Tokura. N., "On the capabilities of while, Vepeat, and exit statements." CACM 16, 11 (November, 1973). pp. 503--512. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Woodward, M. R., et al., "A measure of control flow complexity in program text." IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. SE-5, No. I, January, 1979, pp. 45--50. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cobb, G. W., "A measurement of structure for unstructured programming languages." Proceedings of the Software Quality and Assurance Workshop, November, 1978, pp. 140--147. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gilb, T., Software Metrics, Winthrop Publishers, Inc., 1977.Google Scholar
- McClure, C. L., "A Model for Program Complexity Analysis," Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Software Engineering, IEEE Cat. No. 78CH1317--7C, pp. 149--157. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Chapin, N., "A measure of software complexity," Proceedings of the National Computer Conference, 1979, pp. 995--1002.Google Scholar
- Chen, E. T., "Program Complexity and Programmer Productivity. "IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. SE-4, No. 3, May, 1978, pp. 187--193. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Halstead, M. H., Elements of Software Science, Elsevier North-Holland. Inc., N.Y., 1977. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Shooman, M. and Laemmel, A., "Statistical Theory of Computer Programs---Information Content and Complexity." Digest of Papers COMPCON Fall 77, IEEE Cat. No. 77CH1258--3C, pp. 341--347.Google Scholar
- Zolnowski, J. C. and Simmons. D. B., "Measuring Program Complexity." Digest of Papers of Fall COMPCON 77. IEEE Catalog No. 77CH1258--3C, pp. 336--340.Google Scholar
- Thayer. T. A., et al., Software reliability study, RADC-TR-76-238, August, 1976.Google Scholar
- Knuth. D. E., An empirical study of FORTRAN programs. U.S. Government Report AD-715-513, February, 1971.Google Scholar
- Aho, A. Y. and Ullman, J. D., The theory of parsing, translation, and compiling. Vol. 11: Compiling, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Zolnowski, J. C. and Simmons, D. B., "A complexity measure applied to FORTRAN." Proceedings of COMPSAC 77, IEEE Catalog No. 77CH1291--4C, pp. 133--141.Google Scholar
- Mills, H. D., "The complexity programs" in Program Test Methods, ed. W. D. Hetzel, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973, pp. 225--239.Google Scholar
- Zolnowski, J. C., "A Composite Measure of Program Complexity." AUERBACH Computer Programming Management series. 1978.Google Scholar
Recommendations
Measuring Dynamic Program Complexity
A relative complexity technique that combines the features of many complexity metrics to predict performance and reliability of a computer program is presented. Relative complexity aggregates many similar metrics into a linear compound metric that ...
On the complexity of measuring software complexity
AFIPS '81: Proceedings of the May 4-7, 1981, national computer conferenceThe term software complexity (program quality, program complexity,...) has been used by software engineering researchers to denote the testability, maintainability, readability, and/or comprehensibility of a program. Curtis points out a common bond that ...
Rated and operating complexity of program—an extension to McCabe's theory of complexity measure
Program complexity measure is arrived at using graph- theoretic method giving a cyclomatic number. However it has been found that programs with same cyclomatic number do not have same complexity. A simple extension to the measure is described in this ...
Comments