Number Of Parents (NOP)

Overview

Inheritance, also known as generalization, is one of the fundamental concepts of object models and must be used advisedly. Non-abusive use is a sign of quality and of the solid understanding of the concept.

Computation

For a class, this is the number of parent classes.

For a package, this is the number of parent packages.

Nominal range

Between 1 and 2.

Analysis

The value 1 corresponds to a simple inheritance. Any value greater than 2 is a sign of abusive use of inheritance, unfavorable to increased simplicity.