Predictive Software Measures based on Z Specifications - A Case Study

TL;DR

This paper investigates the use of formal specification metrics, specifically Z specifications, to predict software effort and quality early in the development process through a case study.

Contribution

It introduces a method to correlate formal specification metrics with code complexity and quality measures, demonstrating their predictive potential.

Findings

Metrics from Z specifications correlate with code complexity.

Formal specification metrics can predict effort and quality.

Case study validates the practicability of these metrics.

Abstract

Estimating the effort and quality of a system is a critical step at the beginning of every software project. It is necessary to have reliable ways of calculating these measures, and, it is even better when the calculation can be done as early as possible in the development life-cycle. Having this in mind, metrics for formal specifications are examined with a view to correlations to complexity and quality-based code measures. A case study, based on a Z specification and its implementation in ADA, analyzes the practicability of these metrics as predictors.