A software evaluation model using component association views

Introduces a view-based architectural design evaluation model that allows one to quantitatively evaluate and categorize the design of a software system. The model is based on the notion of component association, which is a generalization of coupling and cohesion metrics. The component association is defined as a measure of the overall dependency among high-level system components, such as files, modules or subsystems, with regard to a collection of criteria. The associations are discovered by applying data mining techniques to a database of data-flow and control-flow dependencies extracted from the software system. The proposed association-view and modularity metrics allow the user to evaluate the design quality of a software system.