| Software is an integral part of our daily activity and we are constantly requiring more functionality to be implemented. However; functionality is not the determining factor for the longevity and success of software; in fact, non-functional requirements (i.e. software quality) are the most important factor. (Bass, Clements, and Kazman 1998); Software quality can be evaluated throughout the software development life cycle; however, the earlier it is evaluated, the sooner problems can be discovered and fixed. Software architecture is the first artifact of software development following requirements analysis, and its existence allows us to evaluate the software very early on.; Throughout the literature researchers have investigated different approaches to assess software architecture against specific external quality attributes, such as maintainability and reliability, neglecting internal quality attributes, such as coupling, complexity and cohesion that are known to have an influence on external quality attributes. (Briand, Morasca, and Basili 1996) Assessing architecture internal quality attributes is the subject addressed by this dissertation. |
