SLOC (Source Lines of Code) is a code metric with a bad reputation due to misuse by management to evaluate developer productivity, but it still has legitimate uses. The post explains the difference between Physical Lines of Code (PLOC) and Logical Lines of Code (LLOC), particularly in C where whitespace doesn't affect statement count. It warns against using SLOC as a productivity measure, which can incentivize verbose, inefficient code. However, SLOC remains useful for estimating effort when working with existing codebases or negotiating contracts. The free, open-source tool CLOC is demonstrated with practical command-line examples showing how to count lines per file type and per individual file.
