Re: [xml-dev] Adam Bosworth on XML and W3C

[Eric van der Vlist <vdv@dyomedea.com>]

Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:

> It depends on the complexity measure suited to the application domain. 


Yes, that's why I wanted to know which was the algorithm used by Björn 
for the W3C specifications.

The length is obviously not a good indicator since if more explanations 
are added, the specification should be easier to understand and not be 
considered as more complex --it can depend on the way the explanations 
are written, though.

Eric


> 
> Approximate entropy is one measure.
> 
> "Approximate entropy is a statistical measure to quantify the regularity in
> relatively short noisy time series. It is defined as the rate of entropy for
> an approximating Markov chain to the process. Useful in deistinguishing
> between correlated stochastic processes and composite
> deterministic/stochastic models."
> http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/~bruce/combib/compref260.html
> 
> Rounds complexity is another
> 
> "rounds complexity, are defined and then illustrated by designing and
> analyzing two algorithms: a parallel summation algorithm which proceeds
> along an implicit complete binary tree and a recursive doubling algorithm
> which proceeds along a linked list. In both cases replacing global
> synchronization with local synchronization yields algorithms with reduced
> complexity."
> http://csdocs.cs.nyu.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Describe/ncstrl.nyu_cs%2FTR1991-539
> 
> Kolmogorov complexity is another.  "the length of the shortest effective
> description of an individual object" aka, compressability
> http://www.cwi.nl/~paulv/kolmogorov.html
> 
> Psychological complexity "psychological complexity measure developed at
> Clemson University, called the Permitted Interactions (PI) measure, uses
> design information to calculate the psychological complexity as a measure of
> effort. However there is a general demand for measures that can use
> information present at earlier phases. Following this requirement the
> measure reported here estimates complexity at the domain analysis phase
> which is the earliest development phase in an objectoriented software
> process. Psychological complexity relates to the cognitive load imposed on
> the developers of the software system which is in turn directly related to
> the time to completion of the development process."
> http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/167340.html
> 
> Structural measures of disorder using graphs (connectance ratio)
> http://crl.nmsu.edu/users/madavis/Site/Present/tsld001.htm
> 
> and so on.
> 
> len
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric van der Vlist [mailto:vdv@dyomedea.com]
> 
> How do you measure the complexity of a specification?
> 
> Eric (just being curious)
> 
> 
> 



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