Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Longitudinal Metric Study Of Postgresql Software Archeology In Open Source, Terry Franklin Byrum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Open source software development is credited as the basic fuel powering much of the Internet, especially the Web. While many organizations rely heavily on open source, few studies have focused on the dynamics of development methodology. This document contains the results of a longitudinal metric study of the open source database PostgreSQL representing an 8 year period of community development. This study is software archeology, excavating bits of an Internet community, a cultural group, for understanding. Longitudinally, McCabe's cyclomatic complexity and Halstead's software science change tempo in accordance with PostgreSQL's maturity, though meritocracy practices of open source might suggest greater …