Applicability of Weyuker's properties using three complexity metrics

Abstract

Although a number of complexity metrics have been proposed, only a few studies have been conducted to compare those proposed metrics to find the most effective and comprehensive metric. In general, to find the effectiveness and the comprehensiveness of a metric Weyuker's nine properties are used. However determining whether a complexity metric satisfies some theoretical framework is not enough to determine the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of that particular metric. Thus, this empirical study was conducted to find the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of three complexity metrics - McCabe's cyclomatic complexity, Halstead's software science and Shao and Wangs' cognitive functional size using the help of thirty software programmers with five or more years of working experience and thereby demonstrate the applicability of Weyuker's properties.