Advancement from neural networks to deep learning in software effort estimation: Perspective of two decades

In the software engineering, estimation of the effort, time and cost required for the development of software projects is an important issue. It is a very difficult task for project managers to predict the cost and effort needed in the premature stages of planning. Software estimation ahead of development can reduce the risk and increase the success rate of the project. Many traditional and machine learning methods are used for software effort estimation by researchers, but always it has been a challenge to predict the effort accurately. In this study, different Artificial Neural Network (ANN) used for effort estimation is discussed. It is observed that the prediction of software effort by using ANN is more precise and better compared to traditional methods such as Function point, Use-case methods and COCOMO etc. Models based on neural networks are competitive in nature as compared to statistical and traditional regression methods. This paper explains the overview of various ANN such as basic NN, higher order NN, and deep learning networks used by the researchers for software effort estimation. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.