It's Not About Lines of Code

Charles Connell writes: "What makes a programmer highly productive? Is it lines of code per day? Lines of good code? In this article, I examine the concept of software productivity. I look at some of the standard definitions for productivity and show why they are wrong. I then propose a new definition that captures what programming really is about." Read on for Connell's stab at a better way of evaluating the worth of programmer time. CT Originally the contents of an article were here but there was a communication problem resulting in us thinking we were given permission to print the article here. Now that things have been cleared up, we've linked the original article which you can read instead. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Comments

What a steaming pile...

[jmagar.com]

I must say that this is just plain silly. I have two comments, one about commenting code, and another about measuring productivity:

1. "Well Commented Code" is code without comments!!! If you need to comment your code your have made it too complicated. All functions should be well described by the function name. If you can't describe what the function does by the name, then it should be more than one function. All variables should be self describing as well. In short if you have to add a comment about something that is strange/complicated/unusual then you should figure out a better way of doing it.
   
2. Now as far as measuring productivity it should be measured by milestone dates and feature lists. If you have an agreed target date for a feature to be completed then hitting or missing that deadline is the only rela metric.
   

That's all I have to say about that...

Re:Can't measure...

[sporty]

Oh, btw.. yes, I said "his" code. If you are a chick programmer.. you should either...

a. Not exist. You are a myth.
b. Be a supermodel and be married to me.

;)

CHoke! Learn C++ before teaching it!

[Howling Loon]

Notably the RAII pattern, which these clowns appear to be totally unaware of.