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Applying the ABC Metric to C, C++, and Java [pdf]

by alokrai on 6/5/21, 10:11 AM with 5 comments

• by rualca on 6/6/21, 12:53 PM

  For the lazy like me who are interested in the topic but googling for it is too exhausting:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Software_Metric

  Long story short: instead of counting lines of code, the ABC software metric accounts for

  A) assignments ,

  B) branches,

  C) conditionals.

  I would argue that the ABC metric nowadays fails to do a good job as a software metric, mainly due to the inception and prevalence of declarative frameworks and tools.

• by thesz on 6/6/21, 1:04 PM

  Author includes comments (irrelevant to code to some extent) and braces (enforced by compiler) and particulars of code style into LOC and calls it unreliable.

  I think it is not quite honest.

  The rules themselves vary between languages and, frankly, contemporary C++ is a different language than C++ circa 1997. Often, use of C++ is different between parts of projects and it is the case for contemporary Java too.

  Should we develop different ABC rules for different flavors of C++ and/or Java?