Entropy-based Measurement for Software: an Entropy-based Measurement Framework Forcomponent-based Hierarchical Systems

Component-based software systems are becoming largerand more complex. The quantification of thesesystems is possible through representation in ahierarchical structure with the use of softwaremetrics. Metrics provide information about suchfeatures as complexity, design, quality, size, development time, effort, and cost. Entropy-basedsoftware metrics promise important improvements inmeasuring complexity, design quality, and informationflow. The proposed measurement framework in this bookoffers quantitative representation and decompositionmethods to apply entropy-based metrics. By using thismeasurement framework, the developer could achieve ahierarchical representation of the system which wouldclarify the logic flow and quantify the interactionbetween the components. The framework targets thedesign and evolution phases in component-basedsystems to detect structural complexity issues andcomprehend the interaction of the software modules. This framework would be helpful to both designers andusers to represent the component-based system in acomprehensible form and to apply the necessary measures.