A Pedagogical Evaluation and Discussion about the Lack of Cohesion in Method (LCOM) Metric Using Field Experiment
Chidamber and Kemerer first defined a cohesion measure for
object-oriented software - the Lack of Cohesion in Methods
(LCOM) metric. This paper presents a pedagogic evaluation and
discussion about the LCOM metric using field data from three
industrial systems. System 1 has 34 classes, System 2 has 383
classes and System 3 has 1055 classes. The main objectives of
the study were to determine if the LCOM metric was appropriate
in the measurement of class cohesion and the determination of
properly and improperly designed classes in the studied systems.
Chidamber and Kemerer's suite of metric was used as metric
tool. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze results. The result
of the study showed that in System 1, 78.8% (26 classes) were
cohesive; System 2 54% (207 classes) were cohesive; System 3
30% (317 classes) were cohesive. We suggest that the LCOM
metric measures class cohesiveness and was appropriate in the
determination of properly and improperly designed classes in the
studied system.
Keywords: Class Cohesion, LCOM Metric, Systems, Software
Measurement
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