{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,12]],"date-time":"2023-11-12T11:52:11Z","timestamp":1699789931516},"reference-count":4,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["SIGPLAN Not."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1978,2]]},"abstract":"Professor Maurice Halstead of Purdue University first defined a set of properties of algorithms in 1972. The properties are defined in terms of the number of unique operators, unique operands, total operators, and total operands used to express the algorithm. Since 1972, independent experiments have measured various sets of algorithms and have supported Halstead's theories concerning these properties. Also, new properties have been defined and experiments performed to study them.This paper reports a study in which different methods of counting operators and operands are applied to a fixed set of 34 algorithms written in PL\/I. Some properties of the algorithms vary significantly depending on the counting method chosen; other properties remain stable. Although no one counting method can be shown to be best, the results do indicate the importance of the counting method to the overall measurement of an algorithm. Moreover, the results provide a reminder of how sensitive some of the measurements are and of how careful researchers must be when drawing conclusions from software science measurements.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/953422.953423","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,11,14]],"date-time":"2005-11-14T18:08:27Z","timestamp":1131991707000},"page":"30-45","update-policy":"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":36,"title":["An investigation into the effects of the counting method used on software science measurements"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"James L.","family":"Elshoff","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1978,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_1_1","unstructured":"Halstead M. H. Elements of Software Science Elsevier North-Holland Elsevier Computer Science Library New York New York 1977 127 p. Halstead M. H. Elements of Software Science Elsevier North-Holland Elsevier Computer Science Library New York New York 1977 127 p."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","unstructured":"Halstead M. H. Elshoff J. L. and Gordon R. D. \"On Software Physics and GM's PL\/I Programs\" GMR-2175 General Motors Research Laboratories Warren Michigan 48090 26 p. Halstead M. H. Elshoff J. L. and Gordon R. D. \"On Software Physics and GM's PL\/I Programs\" GMR-2175 General Motors Research Laboratories Warren Michigan 48090 26 p."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","unstructured":"Bulut N. Invariant Properties of Algorithms Ph.D. Thesis Purdue University August 1973 149 p. Bulut N. Invariant Properties of Algorithms Ph.D. Thesis Purdue University August 1973 149 p."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/956003.956006"}],"container-title":["ACM SIGPLAN Notices"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/953422.953423","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,3]],"date-time":"2023-01-03T07:13:54Z","timestamp":1672730034000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/953422.953423"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1978,2]]},"references-count":4,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1978,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/953422.953423"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/953422.953423","relation":{},"ISSN":["0362-1340","1558-1160"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0362-1340","type":"print"},{"value":"1558-1160","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1978,2]]},"assertion":[{"value":"1978-02-01","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}