An Approach to Evaluate the Complexity of Block-Based Software Product
An Approach to Evaluate the Complexity of Block-Based Software Product
Author(s): Ilenia Fronza, Luis CORRAL, Claus PAHLSubject(s): Education, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Vilniaus Universiteto Leidykla
Keywords: software metrics; block-based programming languages; Scratch; complexity; When; End-User Software Engineering; EUSE; software quality;
Summary/Abstract: Computer programming skills have been growing as a professional competence also to unqualified end-users who need to develop software in their professional practice. Quality evaluation models of end-user-developed products are still scarce. In this paper, we propose a metric that leverages “When”, a condition typically found in block-based software development frameworks. We evaluated 80 Scratch projects collecting a metric related to the presence of the When condition and investigated common traits and differentiation with other metrics already proposed in the literature. We found that, in an evaluation with respect to the conditionals found in Scratch projects, When delivers a distinct and complementary approach to software complexity in products developed using block-oriented software development tools.
Journal: Informatics in Education - An International Journal
- Issue Year: 19/2020
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 15-32
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English
