John Bokma wrote: > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > But if a 1 person, using 1 language, with the same set of tools withing > > a 3 month period implements the same algo without bugs - I'll bet you > > the shorter one was theone written second. > > You might lose that bet very often. I see often that additional checks are > added to algorithms to handle special cases overlooked, or documentation > added because a co-worker had problems with the notation.
I am not the one generalizing my statement. Adding the things above, does not count as implementing the same thing. It would implementing a new thing. And what you describe could be just be more bloat - not indicating quality. > I rarely see my scripts shrink, they often grow. The only time they shrink > is when I factor one or more modules out of it :-) > > > The fact that you many ppl will state the shorter line count of > > rewrites is a sign of improving skill > > I disaprove if you want to make it a general rule. I have seen too many > exceptions. Two points here. I have since the beginning stating a HYPOTHESIS - a theory. One which my experince leads me think MIGHT be true. I am much more interested in figuring out a way to validly compare line counts (a distinct challenge in itself) Then we might be able to test the hypothesis. Two -I am not trying to declare an absolute rule. Would I advocate someone think about line count when implementing? No. Do I think there might be some useful analysis of code that includes line count and char count - yes. Is it proven - no. > > So while far from conclusive, the fact that I find my code gets > > shorter the second time - and it is usually done more skillfully, it > > seems there is a correlation of some sort between lines of code and > > quality. > > Yup, and this is exactly what frightens me the whole time in this thread. > People looking for quality rules based on line count. It's wrong. > Please note my original hypothesis was maintainability - not quality! important important distinction - and one I may have muddles myself as I got drawn into the conversation. And what frightens me are people who are so dogmatically convinced becasue of their long 10 years of experience - that they know exactly what does and doesn't matter, and have no intellectual curiosity anymore. There are no objective tests for maintainability that I am aware of. So neither of us is arguing from a position of evidence - just experience. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
