The comment frequency of the code fragment is 13%. To which ISO 9126 quality attribute does a good level of comment frequency especially contribute? 1 credit [K2]

Question

Options

• APortability
• BMaintainability
• CUsability
• DEfficiency

• A
  88% (21)
• B
  4% (1)
• C
  8% (2)

Explanation

Important note: The stated correct answer (A - Portability) appears to be incorrect. The actual correct answer is B - Maintainability.

Comment frequency is a well-established metric for Maintainability under ISO 9126. Good comments improve analyzability (ability to diagnose faults) and changeability (ease of modification) - both sub-characteristics of Maintainability. When a developer reads an unfamiliar codebase, comments explain intent, constraints, and logic that code alone cannot convey, directly reducing the effort required to maintain or modify the software.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Portability): Portability concerns adaptability across environments, platforms, or hardware - comments have no meaningful impact on this.
• C (Usability): Usability refers to end-user ease of use (learnability, operability), not internal code structure.
• D (Efficiency): Efficiency covers runtime performance and resource consumption - comments are stripped at compilation/interpretation and have no runtime effect.

Memory tip: Think "Comments = Communication for the next developer." Whoever next touches the code needs to maintain it - so comment frequency maps directly to Maintainability. If your exam answer key shows A, it likely contains a typo or printing error; every major testing syllabus (ISTQB, ISO 9126 literature) associates this metric with Maintainability.

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