--- title: The dumbest metric in software is back... | daily.dev description: Lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is making a comeback driven by AI code generation hype, despite being widely discredited by computer science... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The dumbest metric in software is back... | daily.dev og:description: Lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is making a comeback driven by AI code generation hype, despite being widely discredited by computer science... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ySpIGlBP7.png og:image:alt: The dumbest metric in software is back... og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The dumbest metric in software is back... **[Awesome](https://daily.dev/sources/awesome-coding)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is making a comeback driven by AI code generation hype, despite being widely discredited by computer science pioneers. Historical examples — from Bill Atkinson deleting 2,000 lines at Apple to Ken Thompson's most productive day being one of deletion — show that progress in software often means subtraction, not accumulation. Recent AI-driven projects like Cursor's browser (3M lines) and Anthropic's C compiler (100K lines) are celebrated for volume while their functional limitations go unmentioned. This trend is dangerous: engineers who stop writing code lose the deep mechanical understanding needed to debug and refactor systems. AI makes motion effortless but leaves judgment unchanged, accelerating the creation of instant legacy code that nobody fully understands. The real risk is confusing activity with achievement at unprecedented speed. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Lines of Code Are Back \(And It's Worse Than Before\)](https://daily.dev/posts/lines-of-code-are-back-and-it-s-worse-than-before--vz8rhgd2f) · Hacker News · 7 upvotes · 3 comments - [Your code is worthless](https://daily.dev/posts/your-code-is-worthless-pxaqncbmy) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Lines of code are useful](https://daily.dev/posts/lines-of-code-are-useful-nmiqpfz9n) · Lobsters · 3 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The dumbest metric in software is back...","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7"},"datePublished":"2026-02-18T14:09:27.281Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T03:35:47.564Z","description":"Lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is making a comeback driven by AI code generation hype, despite being widely discredited by computer science...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/POMqB6tGB74/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/POMqB6tGB74/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Awesome","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Awesome","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--mj_0cdD8--/f_auto/v1710506099/logos/awesome-coding","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/awesome-coding"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-dumbest-metric-in-software-is-back--yspiglbp7","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-coding,llm","timeRequired":"PT5M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"The dumbest metric in software is back...","description":"Lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is making a comeback driven by AI code generation hype, despite being widely discredited by computer science...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/POMqB6tGB74/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-02-18T14:09:27.281Z","duration":"PT5M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/ySpIGlBP7","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/POMqB6tGB74"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Awesome","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/awesome-coding"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The dumbest metric in software is back..."}]} ```