Object Mentor Blog: Software on the Cheap

Software on the Cheap

Uncle Bob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:17:00 -0600

When it comes to software, you get what you pay for.

Have you ever stopped to wonder how much a line of code costs? It ought to be easy to figure out.

In the last 14 months, I have written about 20KSLOC in FitNesse. Of course that was part time. My real job is running Object Mentor, consulting, teaching, mentoring, writing, and a whole load of other things. Programming takes up perhaps 15% of my time.

On the other hand most programmers have lots of other things to do. They go to meetings, and then they go to more meetings. When they are done with those meetings, they go to meetings. And then there are the meetings to go to. Oh yeah, and then there’s all the fiddling around with time accounting tools, and horrific source code control systems that perform like a salamander crawling through frozen mud.

So, maybe 15% isn’t such a bad ratio.

The loaded rate (Salary plus everything else) for a typical programmer is on the order of $200K. (I know that sounds like a lot, but you can look it up.) So $200K / (20KSLOC / 14mo * 12mo) = $11.66/SLOC.

Let’s look at one of those lines: StringBuffer nameBuffer = new StringBuffer(); Does that look like $11.66 to you? Would you pay that much for it? Well, don’t answer yet, because for each StringBuffer line you buy, you get import java.lang.StringBuffer; absolutely free!

Some factories pay their employees a “piece rate”. Would you accept $11.66 per line of code instead of a salary? Of course it couldn’t just be any old line of code. It’d have to be tested!

Hey, I bet all programmers would do TDD if we paid them a piece rate!

Down to business.

The point of that silly analysis was to demonstrate that software is expensive. Even the dumbest little app will likely require more than 1,000 lines of code; and that means it could cost $12K to write!

Imagine that you aren’t a programmer, but you have a clever idea for a new website that’ll make you a zillion dollars. You’ve storyboarded it all out. You’ve worked out all the details. Now all you need is some high-school kid to zip out the code for you. Right? Hell, you could pay him minimum wage! The little twerp would be happy to get it!

That tragic comedy is altogether too common. Too many people have borrowed money against their father’s retirement account to fund a terrible implementation of a good idea. Appalled at how much the reputable firms charge per hour ($100 or more) they go looking for a cheap solution.

“After all, this software is simple.” Or so the reasoning goes. “It’s not like we’re trying to send a rocket to the moon or anything. And, besides, those expensive guys were just out to cheat us. Software just isn’t that hard to write.” Uh huh.

So the poor schmuck finds some freshman in college, or maybe a bored housewife who read a book on HTML last year and created a cute website to show off her kittens. Have these programmers heard about TDD? Have they heard about Design Patterns? Principles? How about source code control?

Clearly they haven’t. They’re going to sling a bunch of horrific code together, without any tests, versioning, or control. The project will start well, with exciting initial results. But then it will slowly grind to a halt, while the cash continues out the door unabated.

In the end the website isn’t going to get built (and the poor schmuck’s father won’t be retiring as soon as he thought). It will be a disaster that will either be terminated, or will require double or triple the investment to get right.

The Bottom Line.

The bottom line is that, when it comes to software, you get what you pay for. If you want good software done well, then you are going to pay for it, and it will probably cost you $12/line or more. And, believe me, that’s the cheapest way to get your software done.

If you go out hunting for the cheap solution, then you’re going to end up paying more, and losing time. Software is one of those things that costs a fortune to write well, and double that to write poorly. If you go for cheap, you’re going to pay double; and maybe even triple.

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