Study after study finds that the predictive power of both the Halstead metric and the McCabe cyclomatic complexity metric is no better than counting lines of code, for the characteristics of interest. Why do people continue to use and cite the Halstead and McCabe metrics?| The Shape of Code
The paper in which McCabe proposed what has become known as McCabe’s cyclomatic complexity did not contain any references to source code measurements, it was a pure ego and bluster paper.| The Shape of Code
I recently discovered a fascinating series of technical reports from the 1970s in the Purdue University e-Pubs archive that shine a surprising light on what are now known as the Halstead metrics.| The Shape of Code