FACTORS 7/2002-6/2005

Factors: Fundamental Approaches to the Complexity of Object-oriented Software

One of the major reasons for the persisting software crisis is the inherent complexity of software designs. Current approaches to manage software complexity are mostly based on informal guidelines (methodologies), design patterns or software metrics. The lack of a firm theoretical basis for these approaches limits their usefulness in practice: although they assist in the design of quality software much of the final result depends on the experience of the programmer.

Our goal is to put the notion of software complexity on a firm theoretical basis by studying the basic mechanisms that contribute to complexity in object-oriented systems using mathematical techniques. Such a rigorous approach has potential applications in several areas, namely, automated tool support, design patterns, refactoring and reusability.

Contact: Pierre Kelsen
Project Page :