Complexity

It is a simple indication of the level of ‘connectedness’ of the meta-model of the package, the ratio of connector types to element types:

• The number of connector types is the number of unique combinations of
  • source element type+stereotype
  • connector type+stereotype
  • target element type+stereotype
• The number of element types is the number of unique element type+stereotype.

For example:

A linear ‘string’ of elements and connectors: gives a ratio just less than 1

A package with ‘simple’ connections between, say, 4 elements, with, say, 4 connections: gives a ratio of 1

A complex package, where everything connects to everything, is a hard model to maintain, so it’s complexity is shown as >1