Chidamber and Kemerer's metrics suite: a measurement theory perspective

The metrics suite for object-oriented design put forward by Chidamber and Kemerer (1994) is partly evaluated by applying principles of measurement theory. Using the object coupling measure (CBO) as an example, it is shown that failing to establish a sound empirical relation system can lead to deficiencies of software metrics. Similarly, for the object-oriented cohesion measure (LCOM) it is pointed out that the issue of empirically testing the representation condition must not be ignored, even if other validation principles are carefully obeyed. As a by-product, an alternative formulation for LCOM is proposed.