Two quasi-experiments on cohesion metrics and program comprehension

• Elienai B. Batista
• Cláudio Sant’Anna
• Bruno C. da Silva

Resumo

Cohesion represents the degree to which a software module is focused on a single responsibility. It believes that the more cohesive, the easier it will be to understand the source code of a module. However, there is no empirical evidence about the relationship between cohesion, quantified by metrics, and the effort for understanding programs. In this context, we conducted two quasi-experiments to evaluate the relationship between cohesion measurements and the effort spent to understand the source code of classes in object-oriented systems. The results provide no evidence that cohesion affects program comprehensibility.

Palavras-chave: software metrics, program comprehension, experimental software engineering, cohesion