SPUG: CPAN code worth $500M

[Andrew Sweger]

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004, Peter Darley wrote:

> 	I'm not sure that these estimates are even vaguely correct.  When I run
> SLOCCount on my system I get:
>   [...snip...]
> 	This code was written in three years by myself (mostly), while I was
> spending half my work time doing other things.  Now, I freely admit that I'm
> a genius, but... I don't think that there's any earthly way that I'm as
> productive as nine average programmers (13.86 person-years/1.5 calendar
> years = 9.12 times average productivity).
> 	I think the model in this software is flawed.

If that code you analyzed is Perl, then I think I can explain the
discrepancy: Perl is simply a superior language that lends itself to more
productive works and Wheeler took this into account when crafting
SLOCCount. For example, it is a mere matter of Perlocity to take several
pages of COBOL source code and reduce it to a single line of Perl code
(sorry, Dora). ;)

But seriously, I think you're right. I use SLOCCount to hyperinflate my
ego when I'm feeling down. It's better than huffing spray paint.

-- 
Andrew B. Sweger -- The great thing about multitasking is that several
                                things can go wrong at once.