TY - JOUR
T1 - Theory of relative defect proneness
T2 - Replicated studies on the functional form of the size-defect relationship
AU - Koru, A. Güneş
AU - El Emam, Khaled
AU - Zhang, Dongsong
AU - Liu, Hongfang
AU - Mathew, Divya
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - In this study, we investigated the functional form of the size-defect relationship for software modules through replicated studies conducted on ten open-source products. We consistently observed a power-law relationship where defect proneness increases at a slower rate compared to size. Therefore, smaller modules are proportionally more defect prone. We externally validated the application of our results for two commercial systems. Given limited and fixed resources for code inspections, there would be an impressive improvement in the cost-effectiveness, as much as 341% in one of the systems, if a smallest-first strategy were preferred over a largest-first one. The consistent results obtained in this study led us to state a theory of relative defect proneness (RDP): In large-scale software systems, smaller modules will be proportionally more defect-prone compared to larger ones. We suggest that practitioners consider our results and give higher priority to smaller modules in their focused quality assurance efforts.
AB - In this study, we investigated the functional form of the size-defect relationship for software modules through replicated studies conducted on ten open-source products. We consistently observed a power-law relationship where defect proneness increases at a slower rate compared to size. Therefore, smaller modules are proportionally more defect prone. We externally validated the application of our results for two commercial systems. Given limited and fixed resources for code inspections, there would be an impressive improvement in the cost-effectiveness, as much as 341% in one of the systems, if a smallest-first strategy were preferred over a largest-first one. The consistent results obtained in this study led us to state a theory of relative defect proneness (RDP): In large-scale software systems, smaller modules will be proportionally more defect-prone compared to larger ones. We suggest that practitioners consider our results and give higher priority to smaller modules in their focused quality assurance efforts.
KW - Open-source software
KW - Planning for software quality assurance
KW - Size-defect relationship
KW - Software inspections
KW - Software metrics
KW - Software reviews
KW - Software science
KW - Software testing
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U2 - 10.1007/s10664-008-9080-x
DO - 10.1007/s10664-008-9080-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:52549084296
SN - 1382-3256
VL - 13
SP - 473
EP - 498
JO - Empirical Software Engineering
JF - Empirical Software Engineering
IS - 5
ER -