The Development of C Language Complexity Index Based on Empirical Studies

Abstract

There are a number of techniques that could be used to measure program difficulty level such as Halstead software sciences, McCabe and McClure. However, these are mostly limited to counting programs' operands and operators. The qualitative aspect is often neglected. The qualitative aspect is to include the background, environment, working culture, academic level, social and cultural aspect that influence the developers' view of what aspects of programming that is considered as "complex". This paper presents findings from an empirical study for the development of C language complexity index, the measurement of related metrics will be more accurate and reliable.