| |
| Certain vital-few defects affect system qualities and maintenance costs more adversely than do other defects.%Identifying the vital-few defects and quantifying their characteristics offer the potential to guide defect correction and prevention.This study finds out that multiple-component defects (MCDs), defects spanning multiple system components, are such defects.Two case studies were conducted in six software systems for drawing a quantitative MCD profile, in aspects of defect proportion, distribution, complexity, longevity, and correction effort.The findings show typically that an MCD is likely to cross software development phase or release boundary 5-8 times more than a non-MCD defect.The profile can aid software maintenance and quality improvement.For example, more regression testing efforts shall be focused on MCDs because they tend to leak into subsequent phases or releases. |
|
| Keywords:Software Engineering, Open-Source Software, Software Defect, Multiple-Component Defect |
|
