On the use of calling structure information to improve fault prediction

Previous studies have shown that software code attributes, such as lines of source code, and history information, such as the number of code changes and the number of faults in prior releases of software, are useful for predicting where faults will occur. In this study of two large industrial software systems, we investigate the effectiveness of adding information about calling structure to fault prediction models. Adding calling structure information to a model based solely on non-calling structure code attributes modestly improved prediction accuracy. However, the addition of calling structure information to a model that included both history and non-calling structure code attributes produced no improvement.