The idea that “measuring quality is the key to developing high-quality software systems” is gaining relevance. Moreover, it is widely recognised that the key to obtaining better software systems is to measure the quality characteristics of early artefacts, produced at the conceptual modelling phase. Therefore, improving the quality of conceptual models is a major step towards the improvement of software system development.Since the 1970s, software engineers had been proposing high quantities of metrics for software products, processes and resources but had not been paying any special attention to conceptual modelling. By the mid-1990s, however, the need for metrics for conceptual modelling had emerged. This book provides an overview of the most relevant existing proposals of metrics for conceptual models, covering conceptual models for both products and processes.

""This is the single best book on software quality engineering and metrics that I've encountered."" --Capers Jones, from the Foreword"Metrics and Models in Software Quality Engineering, Second Edition," is the definitive book on this essential topic of software development. Comprehensive in scope with extensive industry examples, it shows how to measure software quality and use measurements to improve the software development process. Four major categories of quality metrics and models are addressed: quality management, software reliability and projection, complexity, and customer view. In addition, the book discusses the fundamentals of measurement theory, specific quality metrics and tools, and methods for applying metrics to the software development process.New chapters bring coverage of critical topics, including: In-process metrics for software testingMetrics for object-oriented software developmentAvailability metricsMethods for conducting in-process quality assessments and software project assessmentsDos and Don'ts of Software Process Improvement, by Patrick O'TooleUsing Function Point Metrics to Measure Software Process Improvement, by Capers Jones In addition to the excellent balance of theory, techniques, and examples, this book is highly instructive and practical, covering one of the most important topics in software development--quality engineering. 0201729156B08282002

The role of metrics and models in software development; Software metrics; Measurement and analysis; Small scale experiments, micro-models of effort, and programming techniques; Macro-models of productivity; Macro-models for effort estimation; Defect models; The future of software engineering metrics and models; References; Appendices; Index.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2006, held in Tucson, AZ, USA in November 2006. The 37 revised full papers presented together with two keynote talks, two panel session papers, six industrial papers, and five demo/posters papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 158 submissions.

This book constitutes the refereed joint proceedings of five international workshops held in conjunction with the 24th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2005, in Klagenfurt, Austria, in October 2005. The 40 revised full papers presented together with the abstracts of seven tutorials were carefully reviewed and selected from 102 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on best practices of UML, experience reports and new applications, model evaluation and requirements modeling, metamodeling and model driven development, positions in engineering agent oriented systems, agent oriented methodologies and conceptual modeling, agent communication and coordination, geographic information systems, spatial and spatio-temporal data representation, spatial relations, spatial queries, analysis and data mining, data modeling and visualisation, conceptual modeling approaches for e-business, information system models quality, and quality driven processes.

Conceptual modeling represents a recent approach to creating knowledge. It has emerged in response to the computer revolution, which started in the middle of the 20th century. Computers, in the meantime, have become a major knowledge media. Conceptual modeling provides an answer to the difficulties experienced throughout the development of computer applications and aims at creating effective, reasonably priced, and sharable knowledge about using computers in business. Moreover, it has become evident that conceptual modeling has the potential to exceed the boundaries of business and computer usage. This state-of-the-art survey originates from the International Seminar on the Evolution of Conceptual Modeling, held in Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, in April 2008. The major objective of this seminar was to look into conceptual modeling from a historical perspective with a view towards the future of conceptual modeling and to achieve a better understanding of conceptual modeling issues in several different domains of discourse, going beyond individual (modeling) projects. The book contains 14 chapters. These were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from 26 presentations at the seminar and are preceded by a detailed preface providing general insights into the field of conceptual modeling that are not necessarily discussed in any of the chapters but nevertheless aid in conceptualizing the inner structure and coherence of the field. The chapters are grouped into the following three thematic sections: the evolution of conceptual modeling techniques; the extension of conceptual modeling to a service-oriented, peer-to-peer, or Web context; and new directions for conceptual modeling.

This book constitutes the refereed joint proceedings of seven international workshops held in conjunction with the 25th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2006, in Tucson, AZ, USA in November 2006. The 39 revised full papers presented together with the outlines of three tutorials were carefully reviewed and selected from 95 submissions.