From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,27a69adcf62e1de7,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,27a69adcf62e1de7,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-12-07 06:10:22 PST Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!lpb From: lpb@sei.cmu.edu (Loic Briand) Subject: Re: Lines of documentation per LOC Message-ID: <1994Dec7.075744.15580@sei.cmu.edu> Keywords: SDD 2167A LOC function points Sender: netnews@sei.cmu.edu (Netnews) Organization: Software Engineering Institute Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 07:57:44 EST Xref: bga.com comp.software-eng:10264 comp.lang.ada:8374 Date: 1994-12-07T07:57:44-05:00 List-Id: In article <1994Oct25.170005.27711@sei.cmu.edu> lpb@sei.cmu.edu (Loic Briand) writes: > Is there any document or source of information that provides > an accepted (?) ratio (lines of documentation / lines of code) for a > software design document (SDD)? I received quite a lot a flaming after this simple request. The usual net gurus made their usual doctoral comments (talking on the net makes some people amazingly arrogant). I finally got a few good references on the subject. They are by Capers Jones: . His column "Software Challenges" in IEEE Computer (October 1994) . His book "Assessment and Control of Software Risks" (Prentice Hall, 1994). The statistics are in number of pages per function points. For the military software, there is an average of 3.40 pages of spec/function point. (the total amount of documentation is 6.15 pages/function point). The article provides details on the relative amounts of user requirements, functional specifications, logic specifications... Other domains (MIS, commercial) are also analyzed. An interesting point in the discussion is that organizations that are CMM level 3 could be subject to a reduction of paperwork, because "Much of the paperwork required by the military standard 2167A has no particular relevance to the technology of building or maintaining software. It was required primarily to demonstrate that vendors knew what they were doing and were doing it on time - that is, because DoD did not trust its vendors." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- O p i n i o n s e x p r e s s e d h e r e a r e m y o w n -- -- Loic Briand SEI Resident Affiliate lpb@sei.cmu.edu (412) 268-6674 -- -- Sponsored by Wilcox Electric/Thomson-CSF briand@wilcox.com --