A New Suite of Metrics for the Integration of Software Components

In this paper we propose two sets of metrics to measure complexity and criticality of large software systems designed and integrated using the principles of Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE). From the Component Interface Definition Language (CIDL) specification [32], we derive two suites of complexity metrics, namely, Component Packing Density (CPD) metrics and Component Interaction Density (CID). The CPD metric relates component co nstituents to the number of integrated components. The CID metric suite relates interactions between components to the number of available interactions in the entire system. We also define a set of criticality criteria for component integration. Our proposed experimental design and the expected results are also outlined in this paper.