SLOC stands for Software Line of Code which is nothing 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. SLOC 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. SLOC - automation: Since Line of Code is a physical entity; manual counting effort can be easily eliminated by automating the counting process.
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
Disadvantages
1. Lack of control over SDLC phases: This technique only consider the lines of code which intern means ? coding phase. However, to develop the code there are other factors involved too. Like ? complexities of the code, impact analysis (in case of change in requirements) etc. coding phase only cover the development time. LOC also does not determine the estimation of code reviews and unit testing done in the coding phase. Measuring the productivity of a project using only results from the coding phase, which usually accounts for only 30% to 35% of the overall effort.
2. Not reliable with Functionality: Skilled developers may be able to develop the same functionality with far less code, so one program with less LOC may exhibit more functionality than another similar program. This leads to adverse impact on the overall size estimation
3. Difference in Languages: Code that is automatically generated by a GUI tool is not usually taken into consideration when using LOC methods of measurement. This results in variation between languages; the same task that can be done in a single line of code (or no code at all) in one language may require several lines of code in another.
4. Lack of Counting Standards: There is no standard definition of what a line of code is. Do comments count? Are data declarations included? What happens if a statement extends over several lines? ? These are the questions that often arise. Though organizations like SEI and IEEE have published some guidelines in an attempt to standardize counting, it is difficult to put these into practice especially in the face of newer and newer languages being introduced every year.
| Leave a Comment |
| Please logged in first to enter your comment. |
|