This new edition of this invaluable reference brings the coverage of software metrics fully up to date. The book has been rewritten and redesigned to take into account the fast changing developments in software metrics, most notably their widespread penetration into industrial practice. New sections deal with prcess maturity and measurement, goal-question-metric, metrics plans, experimentation, empirical studies, object-oriented metrics, and metrics tools. 88 line illustrations.
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About the Author
Norman Fenton is a professor of computer science at the Queen Mary University of London, UK
Shari Lawrence Pfleeger is a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia, USA.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Mike Tarrani
Format:Paperback
I have a large number of metrics books, including everything written by Grady, Jones, and Florac & Carleton, and this is one of my personal favorites. It not only goes into measurement theory and practice, but covers nearly every key metric associated with software engineering.
Instead of writing a tome about what this book contains, I'll confine my comments to what I especially like about it and why.
First, the measurement fundamentals, the goal-based measurement framework, and information about data collection and management alone make this book worth owning. Data collection, for example, can waste resources if you try to collect everything, or worse, don't properly manage or analyze it. Follow the process given in the first part of this book and you'll have a solid basis for a metrics initiative.
Second, the scope of software engineering metrics is wide and given fairly detailed treatment. I especially like the fact that object-oriented metrics are addressed, and the multi-dimensional approach to measuring internal and external product attributes. Moreover, the scope of this book extends to productivity and resource management, which is where development projects and lifecycle costs associated with maintenance have gaps. Finally, the section on software reliability metrics was excellent and added yet another dimension to the coverage the authors give.
Overall, this book is both rigorous and practical as the title implies. The theory and practical applications of measurement and metrics are carefully balanced, and the breadth of material ensures that coverage is complete and addresses all major aspects of software engineering.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The structure of the book makes it difficult to read. It jumps from one type of metrics to another and then back again. The motivation for some of the metrics is not explained at all.
Considering the price you should get value on all pages. This book could have been one quarter of its size and you would not have lost anything.
This is far from a Practical Approach. At some places the authors seems more interested in taking down other researchers ideas than giving an objective view on, "what metrics is, how it can be used, when it is used, what you measure on".
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent survey and critique
Oct 8 1997
By Greg Wilson (gvwilson@interlog.com)
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
(For the full text of this review, see <a href="http://www.ercb.com/ddj/ddj.9711.html">Doctor Dobbs Journal</a>) Software Metrics is not just a thorough, readable survey of the various proposals that have been made over the years for measuring the characteristics of programs; it is also a detailed critique of the sloppy way in which people have tried to use such measurements to predict how much effort would be required to develop and maintain software, and how reliable that software would be. The first part of Software Metrics introduces the fundamentals of measurement theory. What does it mean to measure something? What kinds of measures are there, and -- more importantly -- what kinds of conclusions can we draw from different kinds of measurements? The second part of the book looks at software measurement in particular. Popular measures (COCOMO, function points, cyclometric complexity, and the like) are all described, and their weaknesses pointed out. Again and again, the authors show that the proponents of various metrics have failed to validate their metrics in even the most basic ways... Part Three looks at implementing software measurement in the workplace, and includes an interesting discussion about the nature of empirical research in software engineering. The book closes with a comprehensive annotated bibliography. If you have ever thought about measuring the progress of a software project, or about trying to predict the effort required to develop or maintain a program, this book will tell you what is feasible, what is just hype, and how to tell the difference between the two.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach, Revised
Nov 15 2001
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The structure of the book makes it difficult to read. It jumps from one type of metrics to another and then back again. The motivation for some of the metrics is not explained at all.
Considering the price you should get value on all pages. This book could have been one quarter of its size and you would not have lost anything.
This is far from a Practical Approach. At some places the authors seems more interested in taking down other researchers ideas than giving an objective view on, "what metrics is, how it can be used, when it is used, what you measure on".
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complete, wide in scope and essential
July 1 2004
By Mike Tarrani
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have a large number of metrics books, including everything written by Grady, Jones, and Florac & Carleton, and this is one of my personal favorites. It not only goes into measurement theory and practice, but covers nearly every key metric associated with software engineering.
Instead of writing a tome about what this book contains, I'll confine my comments to what I especially like about it and why.
First, the measurement fundamentals, the goal-based measurement framework, and information about data collection and management alone make this book worth owning. Data collection, for example, can waste resources if you try to collect everything, or worse, don't properly manage or analyze it. Follow the process given in the first part of this book and you'll have a solid basis for a metrics initiative.
Second, the scope of software engineering metrics is wide and given fairly detailed treatment. I especially like the fact that object-oriented metrics are addressed, and the multi-dimensional approach to measuring internal and external product attributes. Moreover, the scope of this book extends to productivity and resource management, which is where development projects and lifecycle costs associated with maintenance have gaps. Finally, the section on software reliability metrics was excellent and added yet another dimension to the coverage the authors give.
Overall, this book is both rigorous and practical as the title implies. The theory and practical applications of measurement and metrics are carefully balanced, and the breadth of material ensures that coverage is complete and addresses all major aspects of software engineering.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
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