Source lines of code (SLOC) is a software metric used to measure the amount of code in a Computer software. SLOC is typically used to estimate the amount of effort that will be required to develop a program, as well as to estimate productivity or effort once the software is produced.

=Measuring SLOC=

There are two major types of SLOC measures: physical SLOC and logical SLOC. Specific definitions of these two measures vary, but the most common definition of physical SLOC is a count of non-blank, non-comment lines in the text of the program s source code. Logical SLOC measures attempt to measure the number of statements , but their specific definitions are tied to specific computer languages (one simple logical SLOC measure for C programming language-like languages is the number of statement-terminating semicolons). It is much easier to create tools that measure physical SLOC, and physical SLOC definitions are easier to explain. However, physical SLOC measures are sensitive to logically irrelevant formatting and style conventions, while logical SLOC is less sensitive to formatting and style conventions. Unfortunately, SLOC measures are often stated without giving their definition, and logical SLOC can often be significantly different from physical SLOC.

Consider this snippet of C code as an example of the ambiguity encountered when determining SLOC: