Software Engineering Practice Test: Software Metrics — Flashcards

Software Engineering quiz on quality metrics, project metrics, analysis of metrics and metric engineering.

Software metrics are important tools used in software engineering to improve the quality of software applications. They are simple quantitative measurements derived from any attribute of the software life cycle. The best software metrics have the following characteristics:
Simple and programmable
Unambiguous and reliable
Always use the same units of measurement
Flexible and simple to fine-tune regardless of the programming language used
Easy to understand
Possible to validate for accuracy and dependability
Essential in making high-level decisions 

Here are some types of software metrics:
Product metrics: Measure the characteristics and quality of the software product itself
Project metrics: Quantify defects, cost, schedule, productivity, and estimation of various project resources and deliverables
Process metrics: Assess effectiveness and aid in determining a software testing endeavor's progress, quality, and health
Function points: An objective metric for sizing software that is easy to count and allows for accurate comparison between different programs
Productivity metrics: Measure the performance of people and teams 
Agile metrics: These metrics show how much value users get from the product or delivered features. 

Some examples of software engineering metrics include: Lines of code (LOC), Cyclomatic complexity, Defect rate, Function points, Earned value, Defect density, and Deployment frequency. 
These metrics can help with planning, tracking, and improving the software development process. They provide trackable data for progress, improvements, and better decision-making. For example, metrics like lead time and cycle time can help predict project budget, team effort, project completion time, schedule, product quality, and team productivity.