Software metrics, and measures of programmer productivity, are important to many people; this paper is about a tool that helps in the automatic collection of data associated with such statistics. Automatic collection is desirable because it does not overtly interfere with programmers’ activities. Manual collection requires the programmer to perform extra work, is error-prone, may influence/impede the usual modes of working, and may be open to misuse.

Almost half of the paper discusses metrics. Software metrics are getting better: measures such as coupling between object classes and cohesion between methods are much more important than “lines of code.” The authors need to distinguish between code reuse and code reusability, however, and take care not to overuse words such as “quality.” Many aspects of programming do not involve using computers, and cannot easily be measured. Nevertheless, what can be measured can be of use.

The paper describes a system called PRO Metrics (PROM). This is a Java-based tool that collects data and generates metrics. It can be used by individual programmers, team leaders, and management personnel. The system architecture supports both online and offline users, and allows for further extension by facilitating the integration of third-party tools. Work on PROM is ongoing, and should be encouraged.