Every LOC counting method I’ve seen for C and C-style languages does not count lines that only contain a brace.
For example, a coder could write an if block two possible ways:
if(condition)
{
DoSomething();
DoSomethingElse();
}
or…
if(condition) {
DoSomething();
DoSomethingElse();
}
The first one yields 5 lines, and the second yields 4. If LOC is ever used to measure productivity or efficiency, breaking to the next line should not be awarded/penalized for the programmer’s coding style. As VB does not use the brace in this fashion, the only lines that shouldn’t be considered are whitespace.
On another note, I think people that put the opening brace on a conditional/loop/other construct are evil. 