Code Quality Evaluation Methodology Using the ISO/IEC 9126 Standard

This work proposes a methodology for source code quality and static behavior evaluation of a software system, based on the standard ISO/IEC-9126. It uses elements automatically derived from source code enhanced with expert knowledge in the form of quality characteristic rankings, allowing software engineers to assign weights to source code attributes. It is flexible in terms of the set of metrics and source code attributes employed, even in terms of the ISO/IEC-9126 characteristics to be assessed. The authors applied the methodology to two case studies, involving five open source and one proprietary system. Results demonstrated that the methodology can capture software quality trends and express expert perceptions concerning system quality in a quantitative and systematic manner.