There are myriad code metrics available to measure attributes of code, such as complexity, coupling, and length, but few are arguably useful. In fact, as I’ve stated before, Cyclomatic complexity is the most applicable metric out there for accurately determining risk.

Recently, a few smart individuals married Cyclomatic complexity with code coverage yielding an impressively helpful metric. They’ve dubbed the metric C.R.A.P and while you may shudder at its name, its accuracy will bring goose-bumps.

If you want to learn more, have a listen to JavaWorld’s podcast entitled “Alberto Savoia talks shop about C.R.A.P.“– plus, the guy asking Mr. Savoia all the questions (and chortling a lot) is me!

For his latest Automation for the people installment, “Asserting architectural soundness”, Stelligent CTO, Paul Duvall, demonstrates how using tests such as JUnit, JDepend, and Ant can play a role in enforcing architectural reliability.

Asserting architectural soundness describes a technique to build checks into your build scripts to proactively detect violations while coding. Locating potential deviations as soon as they’re introduced, instead of waiting to flag problems after the fact, ultimately leads to better quality software delivered faster.

In addition, Scott Laningham, host/editor of IBM developerWorks podcasts, interviewed Paul about the software development need that he addressed in the article. Paul kicked off the interview by indicating that,

Over time software architectures tend to become brittle. The architecture that you think you have versus the architecture that you actually have, as its manifested in the code, is often different.

Whether you read the article or listen to the podcast (hopefully both!), you’ll undoubtedly carry away the need to take charge of your architecture by using a proactive build process.

Here is a vidcast of a short CruiseControl.NET Demo. You can get a look and feel of what a continous integration server can do for you.

In the fourth edition of the Stelligent Early Quality Podcast Series, Paul Duvall and Levent Gurses discuss how Continuous Integration can be simplified with two popular tools: CruiseControl and Maven 2.

If you’re looking to intensify your CI and testing process or are curious about how these tools can help, this podcast is a valuable resource.

Also, check out the other editions in the series. Each podcast is about 5 minutes and each feature an informal conversation between two or more software professionals on technologies and solutions relating to early software quality.

The third Stelligent Early Quality Podcast, which focuses on Visual Studio Team System, was recently published. Paul Duvall and Trevor Paradis discuss what VSTS is and how it can facilitate easier management through increased traceably throughout the software life-cycle.

If you are unfamiliar with VSTS or simply are curious what it is and how it may be useful to you, check it out this 5 minute podcast!

The second Stelligent Early Quality Podcast, which focuses on Test Categorization, was recently published. Once again, disco pioneers Andrew Glover and Paul Duvall push the envelope of 70’s slang while having a technical conversation- it’s the hippest 5 minutes you’ll spend all week!

The Stelligent Early Quality Podcast Series kicks off by asking Disco Paul Duvall, who’s the lead author on the upcoming book “Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality And Reducing Risk”, what is CI?

It’s amazing how many copasetic phrases from the 70’s can be worked into a 5 minute show!