What are different metrics used for software measurement?

Software measurement can be categorized in two ways:
- direct measures of software process.
- indirect measures of product.
There are many factors that can affect the software work so metrics should not be used to compare individuals or teams.

Size oriented software metrics are derived by normalizing quality measures by considering size of the software that is produced. Lines of code is chosen as the normalization value to develop metrics that can get absorbed with similar metrics from other projects. Size oriented metrics are widely used but there is always a debate about their validity and applicability continues.

Function oriented metrics uses measure of functionality that is delivered by an application as a normalization value. Function point metric is based on characteristics of software's information domain and complexity. Function point is language independent and it is based on data that is likely to be known early in evolution.

The quality of the design and the language used to implement the software defines the relationship between lines of code and function points. Function points and LOC based metrics are exact predictor of software development effort and cost.