(Brian Jaress’s Software Estimator)
Jest is a software project estimator. You use it to predict how much software you can produce in a given amount of time. (It can also do the reverse, predict time from amount of software. Most estimators only do the reverse.)
Jest is designed to be a free, simple, command-line alternative to complicated proprietary estimators.
Jest uses the COCOMO II formulas developed at the University of Southern California. USC provides several proprietary implementations and an on-line version. There are also other proprietary programs that use these formulas.
Jest gives you a streamlined, text-based interface to the COCOMO II formulas. You can type in a single number and get your answer. That’s enough for a decent estimate because the estimation formula is based on a simple but non-obvious relationship. A simplified, one-input estimate is already much better than an intuitive guess.
For all the details on the inner workings of jest, take a look at the source code.
Brian Jaress 2010–02–27