Software Change Analytics for Code Complexity Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing software code changes across multiple teams in complex software development projects is challenging due to cascading effects and increased complexity, making it difficult to track and resource effectively.
Innovation Solution
A change analytics system that determines, tracks, and analyzes software code changes by comparing versions, calculating cyclomatic complexity, and assessing divergence complexity, enabling resource allocation and budgeting across teams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple teams concurrently develop software code segments, then development productivity increases, but code change tracking and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments code changes into discrete units of analysis by identifying specific code blocks that are added, modified, or removed between versions. Each code block change is tracked independently with metadata including location, type of change, and affected elements, enabling granular tracking without overwhelming complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary analysis layer that automatically compares code versions and generates structured change information. This intermediary process translates raw code differences into meaningful metrics about code block changes, cascading effects, and complexity variations, shielding developers from the underlying tracking complexity
2Measurement precision
If code changes are tracked in detail, then change analysis precision improves, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality analysis by focusing detailed examination only on specific code blocks that actually changed between versions. Rather than analyzing entire codebases, the system identifies modified code blocks and their immediate context, providing precise change analysis where needed while avoiding unnecessary processing of unchanged code
Solution Approach 2:
The system monitors changes in code complexity parameters such as cyclomatic complexity before and after modifications. By tracking parameter changes rather than performing exhaustive code analysis, the system achieves precise measurement of code evolution with reduced computational overhead
Data Source
AI summary
A change tracking and analytics system and method receives software code blocks from one or more repositories of software related to a software project, such as a new video game. Changes associated with software code blocks, such as relative to previous versions of the software code blocks, may be determined and logged. Additionally, various analytics, such as metrics associated with complexity, divergence from a master version of software code blocks, and/or any cascading effects of the software code blocks may be generated and stored in association with the software code blocks. The change information and analytics may then be used to generate any variety of reports indicating complexity, divergence, or the like over time, information related to software code blocks, and/or information related to behavior of software teams. The change information may also be used to make changes to allocated resources, such as quality assurance resources and/or software engineering resources.