[1/3] Quality Metrics in Software Architecture (Category Architecture)

Interesting. survey Software architecture, in which authors systematized and structured metrics (metrics) to assess the quality of architecture (software architecture). They focused on metrics that can only be applied to architectural descriptions. (architecture-only metrics)without the need to analyze the source code or the implemented system. As a result of a systematic review of the literature (Systematic Literature Review, SLR) a catalogue was created from 52 metric 41 quality (quality attributes)grouped by 8 basic characteristics of quality (quality characteristics) according to the international standard ISO/IEC 25010:2011. For practical use, this catalog is implemented in the form of a model and framework that supports visualization and expansion of the set of metrics. The code itself is available GithubIt's also available. visualization model with metrics, attributes and their clustering, both static and dynamic.

If we talk about my impressions, it seems to me that the authors’ approach is not bad for a general overview of architectural metrics, attributes and characteristics, but it is not suitable for practical application, since the focus on architectural description immediately makes this approach “airy”. And isolation from the ground immediately leads to the country of ivory towers and fabulous architects who are able to hypnotize stakeholders with pictures with rectangles and arrows.

If we talk about the model of authors, then from the analysis of literature they collected a framework that includes the following components: ArchitecturalQualityModel is the root element that unites all other elements of the model. Quality elements are three types of quality elements: Metric – a specific metric for measuring architecture quality QualityCharacteristic - global quality characteristic (e.g. reliability, maintenance) Quality Attribute – a quality attribute associated with one of the characteristics QualityRel – Relationships between quality elements, such as which metric measures which attribute ResearchContributions: References to scientific publications that identify or suggest elements or relationships.

The catalogue is organized by 8 quality characteristics ISO/IEC 25010:2011 (I wonder what in 2023 This year the standard was updated.)

• Functional suitability
• Level of productivity
• Compatibility.
• Ease of use (usability)
• Reliability.
• Security.
• Accompanied.
• Tolerance. (mobility) For each characteristic, appropriate quality attributes and associated metrics are highlighted. For example, for Maintainability it is Cohesion, Coupling, Complexity, etc.

In next post A description of how the authors approached the methodology and implementation of their research.

#Architecture #Metrics #Software #Engineering #SystemDesign #Management