Rule-Based Approach to Computing Module Cohesion

Stevens, Myers, and Constantine introduced the notion of cohesion, an ordinal scale of seven levels that describes the degree to which the actions performed by a module contribute to a unified function [12]. They provided rules, termed as ‘associative principles’ to examine the relationships between ‘processing elements’ of a module and designate a cohesion level to it. Stevens et. al., however, did not give a precise definition for the term ‘processing element’, thereby leaving it open for interpretations. This paper interprets the ‘output variables’ (not statements) of a module as its processing elements. Stevens et. al.’s associative principles are transformed to relate the output variables based on their ‘data’ and ‘control dependence’ relationships. What results is a rule-based approach to computing cohesion. Experimental results show that, but for temporal cohesion, the cohesion associated to a module under our reinterpretation and that due to the ori...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1993
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Arun Lakhotia
• Keywords: Cohesion Level, ICSE 1993, Module Contribute, Software Engineering, Term ‘processing Element