Re: Eachus' Measure of Goodness

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

tmoran@acm.org wrote:

>   Does that mean that in a 50 package system, the average package
> should have under 10 "with"s in its spec or 20 in its body or some
> combination?  And a 400 package system could average 50% more?

Something like that.  But I try to avoid the word should and must is out 
of the question.  The better the design, the lower the number.  So it is 
really a measure of how both how well the system design partitions 
functionality, and the coherence of the actual code.  Also of course, 
the lower the number, the lower the coupling of the various modules.

I could refer you to some papers--some of them from MITRE--on coupling 
and cohesion measures.  The problem is that they require a good ASIS 
implementation (or in the case of the MITRE work, DIANA), and a lot of 
support tools.  This is if you will, a poor man's measure of coupling 
and cohesion that can be done fairly easily.

-- 
                                           Robert I. Eachus

100% Ada, no bugs--the only way to create software.