# Cognitive complexity - a new way of measuring understandability

> The paper that proposed the cognitive complexity metric.

The paper that proposed the [cognitive complexity](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Cognitive%20complexity.txt) metric.

## Abstract

> [Cyclomatic complexity](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Cyclomatic%20complexity.txt) was initially formulated as a measurement of the "testability and maintainability" of the control flow of a module. While it excels at measuring the former, its underlying mathematical model is unsatisfactory at producing a value that measures the latter. This white paper describes a new metric that breaks from the use of mathematical models to evaluate code in order to remedy cyclomatic complexity's shortcomings and produce a measurement that more accurately reflects the relative difficulty of understanding, and therefore of maintaining methods, classes, and applications.