Properties of control-flow complexity measures

1 January 1991

journal article
Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering

Vol. 17 (12) , 1289-1295
https://doi.org/10.1109/32.106989

Abstract

The authors attempt to formalize some properties which any reasonable control-flow complexity measure must satisfy. Since large programs are often built by sequencing and nesting of simpler constructs, the authors explore how control-flow complexity measures behave under such compositions. They analyze five existing control flow complexity measures-cyclomatic number, total adjusted complexity, scope ratio, MEBOW, and NPATH. The analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of these control flow complexity measures.

Keywords

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