Internal Product Attributes

This Group Discussion Assignment asks you to practice concepts related to the measurement of Internal Product Attributes as well as measurement theory. The original definition of Chidamber and Kemmerer's Lack of Cohesion Metric (LCOM) described by the Fenton and Bieman text in Example 9.33 on p. 419 is the following:

Consider a Class C with n methods M1, M2, ... Mn.
Let {Ii} = set of instance variables used by method Mi.

There are n such sets {I1},...{In}.
Let P = {(Ii,Ij)|Ii intersection Ij = empty}
and Q = {(Ii,Ij)|Ii intersection Ij is nonempty}

LCOM = |P| - |Q| if |P| > |Q|, otherwise LCOM = 0.

Does LCOM as defined above match your intuition concerning class cohesion? What problems can you identify concerning LCOM and how it is defined?

Part A (6 points)

1. Post a message providing your answer with justification. Be sure to clearly state the reasons or rationale behind your answer. If you have access to facts or other opinions that support your opinion, cite those references.

Part B (4 points)

1. Respond to at least one other posting and discuss the ideas. (2 points)
2. Prepare (as a group) a list containing all the ideas proposed in your group and post it to the discussion forum for the entire class. (2 points)

Grading Policy

You must actively participate in the discussion to get a grade.