Little or no empirical validation exists for many of software engineering's basic assumptions. While some of these assumptions are intuitive, the need for scientific experimentation remains clear. Several assumptions are made about the factors affecting software reuse, and in particular, the role of the object-oriented paradigm. This paper describes the preliminary results of a controlled experiment designed to evaluate the impact of the object-oriented paradigm on software reuse. The experiment concludes that (1) the object-oriented paradigm substantially improves productivity, although a significant part of this improvement is due to the effect of reuse, (2) reuse without regard to language paradigm improves productivity, (3) language differences are far more important when programmers reuse than when they do not, and (4) the object-oriented paradigm has a particular affinity to the reuse process.

Abstract A metrics methodology can dramatically reduce the problems associated with software maintenance. However, several issues must be addressed in order to develop and use these techniques successfully. This paper defines a metrics methodology which is designed to deliberately integrate maintainability into software as it is being developed. The benefits of using this approach are discussed. Then several issues which complicate the development and use of the methodology are examined. Previous maintenance studies which incorporate the methodology into two different commercial environments are used to demonstrate the difficulties in implementation and contrast the differences in approach.