Functional Size and Information Theory-Based Functional Complexity Measures: Exploratory study of related concepts using COSMIC-FFP measurement method as a case study
Abstract
This paper presents an exploratory study of related concepts across information
theory-based measures and functional size measures. Information theory-based
software measurement has been used in the design of an entropy-based measure
of functional complexity in terms of an amount of information based on some
abstraction of the interactions among software components. As a functional size
measurement method, COSMIC-FFP, adopted in 2003 as the ISO/IEC 19761
standard, measures software functionality in terms of the data movements across
and within the software boundary. In this paper, we explore some of the links
between the two types of measures, and, in particular, the similarities (and
differences) between their generic model of software functionality, their detailed
model components taken into account in their respective measurement processes
and, finally, their measurement function. Some further investigation avenues
are also identified for extending the use of functional size measures for
reliability estimation purposes and for scenario-based black-box testing