How to calculate commit complexity

Note: Code commits can be performed on other open-source platforms such as BitBuckethttps://bitbucket.org/product/, SourceForgehttps://sourceforge.net/home.html, and LaunchPadhttps://launchpad.net/.

Cyclomatic complexity is a software metric that measures the complexity of a program by counting the number of independent pathsThese paths refer to the various unique routes or sequences of statements within a program’s code that can be taken during its execution. in the code. In case of a commit, we can calculate the cyclomatic complexity of the affected code files. This metric gives us an idea of the complexity of the code logic with respect to decision-making.

Overall, commit complexity is a valuable metric in software development, giving engineers high-quality feedback and suggestions for improvement where required. Because there is no standard rule of thumb for calculating commit complexity, teams should strive for a balance that suits their project’s goals and their developers’ expertise. Experienced developers and code reviewers often rely on their judgment to evaluate the commit complexity. They consider factors like architectural impact, potential regressions, and the overall context of the codebase. Once the developers assess the commit complexity, they can turn to methods like code refactoringThis method involves breaking down complex functions or methods into smaller, more manageable ones, eliminating redundant code, and reducing nesting levels., modularizationThis involves breaking the code into modular components such as methods, classes, or functions, making the code easier to understand and maintain., and splitting commits.If a commit contains unrelated changes, this commit can split into multiple smaller commits, making code review easier.