Classification of software quality with tree modeling using C4.5 algorithm

Developing highly reliable software is a must in today's competitive environment. However quality control is a costly and time consuming process. If the quality of software modules being developed can be predicted early in their life cycle, resources can be effectively allocated improving quality, reducing cost and development time. This study examines the C4.5 algorithm as a tool for building classification trees, classifying software module either as fault-prone or not fault-prone. The classification tree models were developed based on four consecutive releases of a very large legacy telecommunication system. The first two releases were used as training data sets and the subsequent two releases were used as test data sets to evaluate the model. We found out that C4.5 was able to build compact classification trees models with balanced misclassification rates.