Programming productivity refers to a variety of software development issues and methodologies affecting the quantity and quality of code produced by an individual or team. Key topics in productivity discussions have included:

• Amount of code that can be created or maintained per programmer (often measured in source lines of code
  Source lines of code
  Source lines of code is a software metric used to measure the size of a software program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program's source code...
  
   per day)
• Detecting and avoiding errors (through techniques like six sigma
  Six Sigma
  Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
  
   management, zero defects
  Zero Defects
  "Zero Defects" is Step 7 of "Philip Crosby's 14 Step Quality Improvement Process" . Although applicable to any type of enterprise, it has been primarily adopted within industry supply chains wherever large volumes of components are being purchased .Zero Defects was a quality control program...
  
   coding, and Total Quality Management
  Total Quality Management
  Total quality management or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes....
  
  )
• Software cost estimation (cost being a direct consequence of productivity)

The relative importance of programming productivity has waxed and waned along with other industry factors, such as:

• The relative costs of manpower versus machine
• a substantially less expensive global workforce is available via the Internet
  • examples:
    • http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india.html?pg=7
    • http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india.html
• The size and complexity of the systems being built
• Highly publicized projects that suffered from delays or quality problems
• Development of new technologies and methods intended to address productivity issues
• Quality management techniques and standards
• apathy may be a factor (productivity needs to be a goal)

A generally accepted working definition of programmer productivity needs to be established and agreed upon.