Summary of Class Period February 19, 1999

	We started to look at chapter 18 in the textbook.  This chapter
covers technical metrics for software.  We need metrics to be able to
evaluate, understand, and predict the quality of our software products.
	Today, we covered the reasons for metrics, and the overall 
procedure for using technical quality metrics.  We defined several 
factors that contribute to software quality in the view of McCall and his
colleagues.  There are other ways to breakdown software quality and 
pages 521-22 of the textbook discuss a more recent approach, FURPS.
	We explained that these factors could not be measured directly.
Instead we had to look at other, measureable characteristics that 
indirectly measured what we wanted.  This is similar to the approach in 
medicine where externally observable characteristics such as pulse, 
blood pressure and respiration are used to indirectly measure 
characteristics of health.