How large is the code base?

[MagicManICT]

I can't define myself a programmer, I love programming but I do only small projects for myself in the spare time.

Just because you only launch paper and gunpowder rockets doesn't make you a "not a rocketeer." Same with computer software and programming it. That's why there's a difference between hobbyists and full time engineers. (FYI, some of the most elegant code and best algorithms have been created by hobbyists.)

If you want to get a scope the size of MMO code gets to, look at some of the open-source emulators around, such as for Star Wars Galaxies. Some are always larger than others. Age can really bloat the code, too.

The client code is open source. Details are here. (FYI, the page needs updated. The current client requires Java 1.8.xxx.)

[VDZ]

And I'm obsessed with lines of code, every week I measure my progress. I know it's a dumb indicator for a software, it can't measure the complexity and other stuffs, but I'm bewitched by quantitive measurements

Line count is more of an indicator of verbosity than anything else.

Code: Select all

if (flag)
{
    return CONSTANT1;
}
else
{
    return CONSTANT2;
}

is 8 times as many lines of code as

Code: Select all

return flag ? CONSTANT1 : CONSTANT2;

but they're functionally the exact same.

[Glorthan]

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.

[VDZ]

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.

It's dumber than that, as proper aircraft construction does not involve occasionally throwing parts away and remaking them, while rewriting code to improve it is very common.

[Hypnos91]

If you want to get a scope the size of MMO code gets to, look at some of the open-source emulators around, such as for Star Wars Galaxies. Some are always larger than others. Age can really bloat the code, too.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll do that to satisfy my curiosity.

Line count is more of an indicator of verbosity than anything else.

I know that verbosity impacts somehow, but I think that, given a specific language, line count still says something about a project magnitude, at least the order of magnitude. In your extreme example verbosity impacts also on the order of magnitude, but I feel that usually every programmer chases the optimal readability. Too much verbosity impacts readability, and too much code golf impacts readability too. I know that the concept of readibility is unique for everyone, but I also think that the effort to reach a good compromise often coagulates in a commonly widespread style. It's just a personal opinion though. I'm sure there are a lot of better metrics out there, but I haven't look for them yet