Function point analysis

Abstract

For more than 40 years programmers are looking for methods to evaluate the software size. Function point analysis is often presented as most convenient way to accomplish this task. It becomes possible to evaluate productivity and quality of programming process only knowing how to count software size. IFPUG function point counting method is normally used in practice as it is an accurate and language-independent but it may be slow and expensive as well. After determining function point counting type, boundaries and scope, every elementary process of a software is evaluated. At the end of a counting process general system characteristics are used to adjust the value of function point count. The author of this work has counted function points of a small program, analysed the counting process and results. The programmers' performance was measured in hours per function point. In the future function point analysis should become automatic. This would make software creation process quicker and easier, and should be widely used to plan software programming resources and carrying out the work planned