Re: query

[Jim Hyslop]

Russ Sherk wrote:
> On 6/16/05, Jim Hyslop <address@hidden> wrote:
> > I'm curious - what use could this information possibly be, anyway?
>
> Usually this information is used by managers to determine churn. 
> Bigger churn (more files/lines changed) means bigger risk.

Not if there's a proper set of unit tests in place.

I'm always skeptical of raw numbers like this being used for any 
meaningful analysis.

I don't think simply counting the number of lines added or removed is a 
good indication of risk. Suppose the tool reports "100 lines added, 100 
lines removed." Does that mean one line was changed 100 times? 100 lines 
were changed, one time each? Changing one line 100 times carries less 
risk than changing 100 lines once. And unless FishEye (or any other 
software) performs a fairly complex analysis of exactly which lines were 
added and removed, you won't know where on that spectrum your count of 
"100 lines added/removed" lies.

--
Jim