Low Complexity Code

Every function/method written or modified MUST target:

• Cognitive Complexity <= 5 (SonarSource metric). Acceptable up to 10 for inherently complex logic. Never exceed 15.
• Cyclomatic Complexity <= 5. Acceptable up to 10. Never exceed 15.

For full scoring rules, see cognitive-complexity-spec.md.

Cognitive Complexity Quick Reference

+1 for each: if, ternary (? :), switch (whole), for, while, do while, catch, else if, else, goto LABEL, break/continue LABEL, each method in a recursion cycle, each sequence of like boolean operators (&& / ||).

+1 nesting penalty on top of structural increment for: if, ternary, switch, for, while, catch — when nested inside another flow-break structure.

Free (no increment): method calls, try, finally, case labels, null-coalescing (?., ??), early return, simple break/continue, lambdas (but lambdas increase nesting level).

Cyclomatic Complexity Quick Reference

+1 for the method entry, +1 for each: if, else if, for, while, do while, case, catch, &&, ||, ternary ?. Core definition; some analyzers may vary by language.