Q. Explain Lines of code - Software Metrics?
Lines of code (LOC) is a software metric used to measure the size of a software program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program's source code. LOC is typically used to predict the amount of effort that will be required to develop a program as well as to estimate programming productivity or effort once the software is produced. Advantages:-
1. Scope for Automation of Counting: Since Line of Code is a physical entity; manual counting effort can be easily eliminated by automating the counting process. Small utilities possibly developed for counting the LOC in a program. Nevertheless a code counting utility developed for a specific language cannot be used for other languages due to the syntactical and structural differences among languages.
2. An Intuitive Metric: Line of Code serves as an intuitive metric for measuring the size of software due to the fact that it can be seen and the effect of it can be visualized. Function Point is additional of an objective metric which cannot be imagined as being a physical entity it exists only in the logical space. This way LOC comes in useful to express the size of software among programmers with low levels of experience.