Case studies to evaluate a domain specific application framework based on complexity and functionality metrics

Abstract An object-oriented framework is the reusable design or a system or subsystem implemented through a collection of concrete and abstract classes and their collaboration. It provides a generic solution to a set of similar problems in an application domain. However, it is difficult to introduce it to the organization that has been using a traditional reuse method. For effective technology transfer, the usefulness of the framework should be evaluated and shown to the organization. This paper evaluates the usefulness of a domain specific business application framework from a viewpoint of saving cost and quality of the software in a company. Here, we conducted two case studies. In the case studies, four kinds of applications are developed. Each of them is developed in two ways: using framework-based reuse and conventional module-based reuse. Then, we evaluate the difference among them using the several functionality and complexity metrics. As the results, the framework-based reuse would be more efficient than the module-based reuse in the company.