International Conference on Computer Science and Education in Computer Science CSECS’11 Facilitating Quality Assurance through a Source Code Metrics Framework Nikolay Grozev Neli Maneva Delyan Lilov
Overview • Introduction • Preceding work • Extended framework • Prototype and validation • Conclusion and future work • Authors and Acknowledgements • Questions Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 2
INTRODUCTION Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 3
Introduction • Optimizing QA activities is a top priority, especially in times of economical hardship • Static source code metrics present a promising approach to partially automating QA work • We extend our previous research in the area by employing: – A CCC (Constant/Continuous/Correct) approach – An approach that can facilitate the so-called "umbrella" activities • As a result our previous framework is technically and conceptually extended to better incorporate in practitioners’ daily life. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 4
PRECEDING WORK Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 5
Core source code framework Design and structure • An abstract framework allowing practitioners to consider the context of the code measurements. • Comprises a number of separate modules modeled as functions – Metric functions – extract the metrics values based on some code artifacts; – Preprocessor functions – prepare the artifacts used by the metric functions; – Evaluation functions – combine metric values into meaningful code quality evaluations. • A user can “hook” contextual logic through custom preprocessor and evaluation functions. metric function preprocessor metric function function parameters source code evaluation (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) function evaluation metric e v a l u a t i o n source code metric function preprocessor artifacts metrics values source code function f u n c t i o n function module parameters (cyclomatic complexity, (control flow graphs, evaluation (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) LOC, Halstead volume etc.) (class, method, inheritance hierarchy etc.) package etc.) . . . . . . evaluation source code function preprocessor metric function metric evaluation function function parameters (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 6
EXTENDED FRAMEWORK Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 7
Extended Framework Overview • The extended framework adds statistical treemap charts visualization conceptual and technical extensions views to the integration with framework versioning to the core one systems user specified • Its main focus is usability context preprocessor metric function metric function function parameters source code evaluation visualization (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) function evaluation information source code preprocessor metric function metric evaluation artifacts metrics values function source code function function module (control flow graphs, parameters (cyclomatic complexity, evaluation (class, method, inheritance hierarchy etc.) (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) LOC, Halstead volume etc.) of historical package etc.) . . . . . . evaluation source code preprocessor metric function metric function function function evaluation parameters data (filtered graphs, hierarchies etc.) • The extensions are “inspired” by Core automatic extraction of explanations framework practical experience gained while context of metrics values information interpretations trying to incorporate a prototype of IDE explanations integration the core framework of the code web evaluations interface Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 8
Extended Framework Extensions • Interface of the framework – Should be accessible to both engineering and managerial staff – Web interface – integrated with popular web based project management and tracking systems used by managerial staff – IDE integration - for engineers • Metrics values visualizations – Visualization techniques to spot code modules with poor quality - statistical charts, treemaps, polymetric views etc. – Visualization of historical trends of metrics values and assessments for continuous code quality monitoring. – Version control systems can be source of historical information. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 9
Extended Framework Extensions • Explanation system – Engineers find it difficult to interpret metrics values. They should be provided with interactive info on metrics values and interpretations. – Aggregated evaluations should also be explained so to evaluate for "false positives". This can be achieved by an expert system . • Framework settings – Core framework represents solely a source code evaluation scheme – Defining the correct functions may be a time consuming task requiring significant expert knowledge – A set of both preprocessor and evaluation functions can be predefined for often recurring contexts. A user has to specify the context of the application. – Automatic context detection based on project structure - binaries, import statements, naming conventions etc. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 10
Extended Framework Extensions • Views to the framework – The framework should facilitate the different roles in the software lifecycle by providing different user account capabilities - views . – A view defines how a user accesses the system and his/her accessible functionalities. – Predefined views: • View for source code developers - IDE access only. Suitable for interactive feedback when programming and testing. • View for senior software engineering staff - access to all features. The only view with access to the framework settings. • View for managerial staff - web interface only. Historical information/trends, high-level visualizations etc. – Custom views can be defined as well. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 11
PROTOTYPE AND VALIDATION Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 12
Prototype and validation • Current prototype status: – Prototype of the core framework. – Eclipse IDE integration. – Metrics visualizations - statistical charts, treemap visualization etc. – Context settings are done manually. – No explanation engine, historical information and support for views yet. • Early adopters' feedback: – The close integration of the visualizations within the IDE allowed for interactive and understandable code quality feedback. – Visualizations saved a lot of time when conducting code reviews. – Lack of explanations of the code evaluations. – Absence of easy ways to tune contextually the framework. – Managerial staff could not test due to lack of appropriate interface. • The Identified problems can be overcome by implementing the rest of the framework. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 13
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 14
Conclusion and future work • A framework supporting quality assurance was presented. • The framework extends our previous rather abstract one with a set of concrete conceptual and technical features. • These features/extensions are meant to increase its usability in the context of daily software development and management. • The results from the experiments with a preliminary prototype were described. • Ideas for further research: – To implement in a prototype all of the proposed in this study core framework extensions and to examine them; – To study more source code metrics so as to decide which of them can be added to the base set of metrics. Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 15
Authors and Acknowledgements Nikolay Grozev , nikolay.grozev@gmail.com Assoc.Prof. PhD Neli Maneva , Software Engineering Department, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics - BAS neli.maneva@gmail.com Delyan Lilov , Musala Soft Ltd, delyan.lilov@musala.com This work has been partially supported by the Bulgarian National Science Research Fund (project ДМУ 02/18 / 18.12.2009). Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 16
Questions Thank you! Computer Science and Education in Computer Science – CSECS’11, July 7 -11 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria 17
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