Lines of code is a terrible measure of skill. In college we created a few text-based C++ command line scripts and one of the “best” in the class was boasting about his 1,500 line app which had 1 player, 2 player and AI player.
I had a look at the source code, took a copy and by implementing functions, structures and removing shitloads of repeated code it was down to about 400!!
I often find more lines of code means better quality and speed.
Example:
$array_total = count($array);
for($i = 1; $i < $array_total; $i++)
{
// stuff
}
or…
for($i = 1; $i < count($array); $i++) //stuff
The first is not only considerably more efficient (count will run each time on the array in example 2) but it looks a great deal better.
Some days I have produced 2,000 or 3,000 lines if I am writing up some crazy classes. Some days I will probably produce about 50-100 lines of code. Really depends ona lot of things and should not be used as a measure of skill or quality.