Re: 3vl 2vl and NULL

From: FrankHamersley <FrankHamersleyZat_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:58:14 GMT
Message-ID: <qdVlf.14559$ea6.14355@news-server.bigpond.net.au>

dawn wrote:
> <snip>
>

>>>IBM U2 (IBM's Pick products) suggest significant annual growth, but I
>>>don't know if it is from "the outside" or from ports from other Pick
>>>products.
>>
>>Pollies answer follows - "I can neither confirm or deny".

>
> Does that mean you are IBM?
>

>>HEY! Isn't that a real world case of 3VL?

>
> Yes and quite an unsatisfying answer, indeed.

For the moment yes but its the real world! Of you get to toss them out in a few years time if it is a material matter and you can replace them with another NULL which is not the same as the previous NULL!

>>>And I probably write a lot because as one of my mentors said (who a
>>>decade later become my employee) "You sure do type fast, but girls do.
>>>That's why they make good secretaries."  (He was explaining why I wrote
>>>code faster than he did.)  Cheers!  --dawn
>>
>>All true - but my measure is the same as Brooks et al - that is working
>>(or debugged) lines! ;-)

>
> Lines of code? You would really measure lines of code? Sometimes
> fewer lines yields much better code. What if you have 600 tables
> instead of 7000 lines of code (or whatever that mantra has been)?

Yep, lines! Sure less can be more, but it is not axiomatic in the IT world. Viz the 600 tables - I script all my DDL, makefiles, sprocs and datafixes - so its still lines of code.

> I haven't read Brooks in a while and don't recall what he said about
> lines of code (I loved his MMM book and even bought the revised version
> too a few years ago, even though I have never put in a single man-month
> in my career).

I was referring rather obliquely based on my hazy memories of his quality metrics in a large project.

> I much prefer measuring debugged features completed with regression
> test cases developed compared to required features for a defined phase
> of a project. Even if some features are big and some are small, this
> measure combined with % complete estimates works for me.

Yep me too when working on the surface. When I'm down the hole its cubic metres cut.

Frank. Received on Thu Dec 08 2005 - 05:58:14 CST