Can we avoid high coupling?

It is considered good software design practice to organize source code into modules and to favour within-module connections (cohesion) over between-module connections (coupling), leading to the oft-repeated maxim "low coupling/high cohesion". Prior research into network theory and its application to software systems has found evidence that many important properties in real software systems exhibit approximately scale-free structure, including coupling; researchers have claimed that such scale-free structures are ubiquitous. This implies that high coupling must be unavoidable, statistically speaking, apparently contradicting standard ideas about software structure. We present a model that leads to the simple predictions that approximately scale-free structures ought to arise both for between-module connectivity and overall connectivity, and not as the result of poor design or optimization shortcuts. These predictions are borne out by our large-scale empirical study. Hence we conclude that high coupling is not avoidable--and that this is in fact quite reasonable

State-selective electron capture by multiply charged ions in atomic hydrogen

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An Evaluation of CMMI Process Areas for Small to Medium Sized Software Development Organisations

In this paper we describe the results of CMMI software process appraisal work with six small-to-medium sized software development companies. Our analysis of six CMMI Process Areas appraised within each of these organisations is presented. Commonly practiced or not practiced elements of the model are identified, leading to the notion of perceived value associated with each specific CMMI practice. A finer grained framework which encompasses the notion of perceived value within specific practices is presented. We argue that such a framework provides incentive to small-to-medium sized enterprises starting process improvement programmes

The Express Process Appraisal Method

In this paper we describe the appraisal method that was developed by the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT) to assess software processes within small to medium sized organisations that have little or no experience of software process improvement programmes. The method, called Express Process Appraisal (EPA), is a class-C compliant CMMI® [1] method for the assessment of software processes. It has been applied in 6 commercial organisations to date. The experiences of these appraisals are discussed

Improving the Express Process Appraisal Method

In this paper we firstly describe the appraisal method that was developed by the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT) to assess software processes within small to medium sized (SMEs) organisations that have little or no experience of software process improvement programmes. We then discuss our experience of developing and using our appraisal method within six SMEs organisations within Northern Ireland. Next we compare our assessment method with existing lightweight assessment methods that have also been used to assess software processes within SMEs software development organisations. We then describe new features that we are currently introducing to improve our software process appraisal method