Negative 2000 Lines of Code

Measuring software progress by lines of code can encourage bloated, inefficient code.

Bill Atkinson rewrote Quickdraw’s region engine with a simpler algorithm, making operations about six times faster and removing around 2,000 lines of code.

When asked to report his weekly lines of code, he entered “-2000” to highlight the flaw in that productivity metric, causing managers to abandon the form for him.