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Code complexity measures how difficult it is to understand, maintain, and test a software application. It’s influenced by factors like deeply nested logic, long methods, excessive dependencies, and unclear control flows. As complexity increases, the risk of introducing defects, creating maintenance challenges, and slowing down development also rises.

From a testing perspective, highly complex code is harder to cover comprehensively. Complex functions or modules may have multiple branching paths, edge cases, and interactions that require more test cases to validate fully. This makes automated testing more challenging and increases the likelihood of gaps in coverage.

Managing code complexity is critical for maintainability. Practices like breaking down large functions, modularizing components, following clean coding principles, and reducing tight coupling improve readability and reduce the potential for errors. Metrics such as cyclomatic complexity, maintainability index, and code churn provide quantitative ways to monitor and control complexity over time.

By proactively managing code complexity, teams can make software easier to test, reduce defect rates, and ensure long-term maintainability. This ultimately leads to faster development cycles, more reliable releases, and software that is easier to extend as requirements evolve.