number of children (NOC)
So-called software metrics, which quantify different properties of software products and processes, are used to measure software products. When measuring software, an object-oriented metric takes into account the combination of data structures and the methods applicable to them to form an object, its relationships to other objects and the general structural features of object-oriented programming.
The metric after Number OF Children( NOC) is to be classified into the group of the measures, which are based on inheritance hierarchies and defined thereby particularly a measure for the classes standing by inheritance with one another in relation.
NOC definition: NOC is the number of direct specializations of a class.
The approach of this method is to be able to evaluate the propagation of defects to a subclass. Here it applies that a class is all the more important, as subclasses were derived from it.
The shown class diagram defines the static parts of a system of classes with their associations and methods.
Example class diagram: NOC(A)=2 and NOC(F)=3 and NOC(B)=0
Application: Mainly in connection with the reuse of classes. The more complex the inheritance hierarchy - i.e. the larger the Number of Children (NOC) - the more important it is to test the deriving class intensively.
Other object-oriented software metrics are Weighted Methods for Class(WMC), Response for a Class( RFC), Coupling Between Objects( CBO), Depth of Inheritance Tree( DIT) and Lack of Cohesion in Methods ( LCOM).