Codebase History

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written by Robin Luckey
oct 20 2006
 

What is it?

The codebase history shows the evolution of the source code of a project. It specifically shows the total size of a project's source code over time.

How is it generated?

We start by enlisting in the project's source code repository at the very first point in time the project was created. Then we move forward in time applying all the same changes the developers made to the project. After each change we recalculate exactly how many lines of code resulted from each change (broken out by blanks, comments and code). We graph the running total of the code, blank and comments in the upper half of the graphic and we show the actual changes (added and removed lines of code) in the lower half.

What does it tell me?

The graph will reveal at a glance how long the project has been around, and the relative pace of development over time. It's generally a good sign to see sustained, constant activity over a long period of time. This means that people are continually updating it (fixing bugs and/or improving features), and that the project has staying power.

Infrequent, large changes can be a sign of trouble - it can, in some cases, indicate destabilizing changes to the code. A short history might reveal that a project is very young, or it might mean that the project has recently moved to a new source control system, and lost its work history as a result.