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From: EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Ed Nilges)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: WANTED: "C" code line counter program
Message-ID: <12561@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 9 Mar 91 02:34:47 GMT
References: <1991Mar6.214157.18633@ntpal.uucp>
Reply-To: EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 46
Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article

In article <1991Mar6.214157.18633@ntpal.uucp>, dcavasso@ntpal.uucp (Dana Cavasso) writes:

>
>     I need a "C" code line counter program, preferably written in
>"C".  It will be used on several platforms, so solutions involving
>shell scripts and other UNIX utilities won't work.  I'm not very
>picky (although I'd like something that did a little more than count
>newlines :-)
>
>     With the growing trend toward gathering metrics, I expect
>such beasts are out there in force.  If you would be willing to
>share your source, let me know.

This request sounds innocuous: but think about it for a second.

The following nonsense C code has three lines:


     a = 1;
     a = a+c;
     a = c*7;


and the following equivalent code has one line!


     a = 1; a = a+c; a = c*7;


It gets worse.  How many lines in the following?



     if ( a = 1 )
        { a = 0; c = 1; }


Two, says the FORTRAN programmer.  But if a line is roughly equivalent
to a statement, there is only ONE line in the above...a line that
contains two lines inside it...

In short, "line" of C code is a meaningless concept.  Count STATEMENTS.
If you must count.  In the last example above, there are 3 statements.

Software engineering: computer science for people who can't program
(Edsger Dijkstra.)