
The Basics of Measurement ◾ 55
However, classes can be combined, as long as the combination makes
sense with respect to the ordering.
EXAMPLE 2.16
Suppose our set of entities is a set of software modules, and the attribute we
wish to capture quantitatively is complexity. Initially, we may dene ve dis-
tinct classes of module complexity: trivial, simple, moderate, complex, and
incomprehensible. There is an implicit order relation of less complex than on
these classes; that is, all trivial modules are less complex than simple mod-
ules, which are less complex than moderate modules, etc. In this case, since
the measurement mapping must preserve ...