Testwell CMT++/CMTJava

Code Complexity Measures Tool for C, C++ / Java

Why Code Complexity Analysis ?

Code complexity correlates with the defect rate and robustness of the application
Complex code is difficult to test -> more errors in the final application
Complex code is difficult to maintain
For this reasons several standards (like ISO 26262) requires the enforcement of low code complexity.

Unnecessary complex code is often the reason for bad code quality and erroneous programs.
Complex code is difficult to test and to maintain.
As the costs of bad quality and erroneous programs can be very high, even crucial to a company, applications with a reasonable complexity helps you to save money.

What is measured by Testwell CMT++/CMTJava ?

Based on the static properties of the program code CMT++ and CMTJava gives estimates how error prone the program source code is due to its complexity, how long it will take to understand the code, what is the logical volume of the code, etc ...
As the project team has not usually time to inspect all the code produced by the project, CMT++/CMTJava can assist in locating the modules, which are most likely to cause problems in the future.

Testwell CMT++ and Testwell CMTJava analyses your applications for the following metrics :

a) Lines-of-code (LOC) metrics

	LOCbl	number of blanc lines
	LOCcom	number of lines with comments
	LOCphy	number of physical lines
	LOCpro	number of lines with program code

further information

b) Halstead's metrics

	B	estimated number of errors
	D	difficulty level, error proneness
	E	effort to implement
	L	program level (abstraction level of the program)
	N	program length
	N1	number of operators
	N2	number of operands
	n	vocabulary size (unique operators + unique operands)
	n1	number of unique operators
	n2	number of unique operands
	T	implementation time / time to understand
	V	volume: size of the implementation of an algorithm

further information about Halstead metrics

c) McCabe cyclomatic number v(G)
Cyclomatic number v(G) describes the complexity of the control flow of a program.
further information about McCabe metrics

d) Maintainability Index
Maintainability Index is calculated with certain formulae from lines-of-code measures, McCabe measures and Halstead measures.
The measurment and track maintainability are intended to help reduce or reverse a system's tendency toward "code entropy" or degraded integrity, and to indicate when it becomes cheaper and less risky to rewrite the code instead to change it.
further information about Mainainability Index

Testwell CMT++ and CMTJava alarm limits can be customized

The alarm limites given by default are common suggestions, based on measurements on code maintained with good success.
Testwell complexity measures tools uses metrics established in reasearch projects during several years in the USA (Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University).
The metrics used by CMT++ and CMTJava are industrial standards.
As it is not possible to give absolute limits to acceptable values, Testwell complexity measures tools allows you to customise the alarm limit definitions of the software metrics in the configuration file for your projects specific needs.

Testwell CMT++/CMTJava Highlights :

mesures original non-pre-processed files
extremely fast -> analyses your applications in a couple of minutes
can handle many/big files
HTML or texual reporting -> measurements can be further processed by Excel
GUI integration in Visual C++ Developer Studio
Available on many platforms: Windows, Linux, HP, Solaris

Verybench: Front End with Several Graphical Views

Verybench is a graphical user interface for the code complexity measuring tool Testwell CMT++.
It enables managers, developers as well as quality and test engineers to colaborate easier on and to contribute easier to source code quality. It accelerates the way metrics are understood by an entire development team and not just by single individuals involved in improving the quality of a software.

Verybench comes with two kinds of main views: the Dashboard Views and the Metrics Views.
Further information: Verybench

Further Information

News about CMT++/CMTJava

Presentation (61 Slides, 1,1 MB)

technical product description Testwell CMT++ (Link to www.testwell.fi)
technical product description Testwell CMTJava (Link to www.testwell.fi)

last updated: 11 May 2012

© 2005-2012 Verifysoft Technology GmbH
CTA++, CTC++, CMT++ and CMTJava are products of Testwell Oy, Tampere (Finland)
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