Evaluating Framework Architecture Structural Stability

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present a methodology to assess the structural characteristics and stability of framework architectures as they evolve with the development of new releases. Using this methodology developers and managers can objectively assess the relative extent of changes in the framework structure and make inferences about the framework’s architecture stability. In this approach the structural characteristics of framework architectures are evaluated using a suite of object-oriented design metrics. Metrics’ values for successive versions of frameworks are computed and compared to determine the extent-of-change in the structural characteristics between versions. This methodology has been applied to the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) and Borland Object Windows (OWL) application framework systems to compute the structural characteristics and the extent-of-change in several releases of the frameworks. Results show that the most significant causes of structural changes between releases are reworks in collaborations between classes, assignment of responsibilities to classes, and the addition of new classes to enhance the features/capabilities of the framework systems. © 2000, ACM. All rights reserved.