MFLion-DMN: Mayfly Lion-optimized deep maxout network for prediction of software development effort

The precise evaluation of predicting software development effort is a serious process in software engineering. The underestimates require more time, which seems to be the negotiation of complete efficient design and complete software testing. Thus, this paper devises a novel model for inspecting the effort taken for the design of software. The Mayfly Lion Optimization (MFLion) algorithm is devised, which ensembles the Mayfly Algorithm (MA) with the Lion Optimization Algorithm (LOA) for precise estimation. The deep maxout network (DMN) is adapted wherein the different weights are produced out of which the most suitable is infused considering the MFLion during model training. The optimal features are selected using recursive feature elimination (RFE) wherein the best features are selected and the remaining irrelevant features are eliminated from the list. The proposed MFLion obtained better performance with the smallest mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) of 5.909 and the smallest root mean square error (RMSE) of 75.505, respectively. Each technique is produced using a separate database generated using the Promise software engineering repository. The outcomes produced from the assessment of the accuracies of models suggested that the MFLion-DMN is a substitute to forecast software effort, which is extensively devised in engineering platforms.