New SourceMonitor 2.0 Code Metrics Tool

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If you've read my article on Code Review and Complexity, you'll know that I recommend using metrics to help monitor the relative quality of source code. I really like the simplicity and speed of Campwood Software's SourceMonitor, a freeware tool written by Jim Wanner. I just noticed that he's released SourceMonitor 2.0 for download, and I'd highly recommend taking a look at it...especially if you've never looked at or captured code metrics. Some of the improvements that I'm looking forward to include:

  • The ability to selectively include subdirectories in a project
  • Support for C# 2.0 language constructs
  • The Kiviat diagram...a lot of useful information at a quick glance

The Kiviat diagram below is from some sample code I generated awhile back. I can quickly tell from this diagram that I should check to see if I've commented my code properly and take a look to see which method(s) are driving my complexity and depth outside typical limits (which are configurable). Fortunately, SourceMonitor makes it very easy to find and review the complex code.