A procedural approach to the evaluation of software development methodologies

This thesis presents a procedural approach to evaluating software development methodologies. The evaluation procedure adopts a unique approach based on the fundamental assumption that the requirements govern the process by which software is constructed. To begin with, this research partitions desirable software characteristics into three categories, viz., objectives, principles and attributes. The thesis claims (claims are substantiated with literature references) that there exist definitive relationships (or linkages) among the software objectives, principles and attributes. These linkages form the foundation of the evaluation procedure. The procedure constitutes two processes, top-down process and bottom-up process. These processes are used to assess the software product and the employed software development methodology. The top-down process begins by identifying the objectives and travels down through principles and product attributes; thus, evaluating the adequacy of the methodology. The bottom-up process, on the other hand, starts at the attribute level and goes up through principles and objectives. The bottom-up process highlights the effectiveness of the methodology. Attributes are identified in the product via properties. This research establishes several properties (called factors in the report) for each attribute. A measurement approach is also presented to help assess the extent to which attributes are present. The feasibility and validity of the evaluation procedure are illustrated through the analysis of two real life methodologies.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science and Applications

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science and Applications

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1987

Author dc:creator

• Dandekar, Ashok V.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/94502

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/94502