Theoretical Validation of Object-Oriented Lack-of-Cohesion Metrics

Class cohesion refers to the degree of relatedness of class attributes and methods. Software developers use class cohesion measure to assess the quality of their products and to guide the restructuring of poorly designed classes. Several class cohesion metrics are proposed in the literature, and a few of them are theoretically validated against the class cohesion necessary properties. Metrics that violate class cohesion properties are not well defined, and their utility as indictors of the relatedness of class members is questionable. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically validate six lack-of-cohesion based metrics. Results show that most of the metrics considered satisfy the majority of the class cohesion necessary properties. Key-Words: object-oriented class, software quality, class cohesion metric, class cohesion.