APPLICATION OF THE THEORY OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS FOR SOFTWARE QUALITY ESTIMATION

An approach for software quality estimation by using the tools of the theory of dynamic systems is proposed. If the programs created using algorithmic programming languages are considered to be dynamic systems, then it is possible to estimate the informational entropy and the fractal dimension of the trajectory in the phase space of the program variables. The fractal dimension and entropy can be taken as indicators of quality, as a measure of complexity of a software product. If there are several programs written on the basis of the same algorithm, the values of their informational entropies and fractal dimensions can be used to compare the programs and find out which of the programs implementing the algorithm is more complicated. This approach can be extended to assess the quality of software and hardware, as well as programming languages and other software tools.

Authors: A. V. Kopyltsov, V. V. Tsehanovsky

Direction: Informatics, Computer Technologies And Control

Keywords: Software quality, dynamic system, fractal dimension, informational entropy

---

View full article