@lizardbill

I'm reminded of how IBM used to try to quantify coding for the purposes of promotion and bonuses:

It started with KLOC, which incentivized developers to write long, unwieldy code to juice up their LOC count.

So then it became Code Density, which incentivized developers to write a single line of inscrutably dense but functional code.

Finally they just gave up!

Yeah, so line count is not a measure of quality by any means whatsoever!

cc @pluralistic

@evdelen @lizardbill

Bill Gates called IBM's method of paying programmers by the line of code, "The race to build the world's heaviest airplane."

@afx @evdelen @lizardbill

I believe the quote is from the mid-1980s.

@pluralistic @afx @evdelen @lizardbill

Other anecdotes:

1) IBM managers realized that programmers were just sitting there typing on keyboards, and getting paid a lot more than typists, for ( what they thought ) was a similar, slightly more technical job. So IBM starts firing programmers and replacing them with typists, with some training thrown in.

2) Airconditioning failed at an IBM office and programmers had to seek management approval to take off the ties ( they all wore business suits ).