Using test case metrics to predict code quality and effort

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation into the use of a design metric (the number of test cases) to predict code quality, development and testing time during the production of functional and object-oriented programs. We report on whether a significant difference exists in the number of test cases for equivalent functional and object-oriented programs as well as determining whether these test cases metrics are correlated with various development and design metrics for the different paradigms. The results of this investigation suggest that test case metrics could be used both as indicators of code quality and to predict the development and testing effort required for functional and object-oriented programs.