Check the following video to learn more about the tool.

Technorati Tags: Code Quality Metrics, Java, Static Analysis, Code Quality.

The term quality might mean different things to different people based on their context of operation and it’s tough to have universal definition for the same.My experiments with software development started over a decade ago & exploring the ways the helps to build & deliver good quality code.The quest towards Code Quality Metrics started with the above objectives.

The discussion around Useful Code Quality Metrics at Linkedin started two months ago. I am excited over the response around the internet to this thread & there are some excellent articles around subject.

• Micheal Boltan has brought up interesting view points and also bloged about the same.
• Nigel Cheshire talks about Static Analysis metrics and expressed views on the right metrics
• Andrew Glover calls it as Code Quality’s singular metric

In the recent past Agitar comes up with CRAP4J as a code quality metric by combining Cyclomatic Complexity and Code Coverage.

In the process, we do use Static Analysis and Dynamic Analysis to derive the above mentioned metrics. Some more good articles around Code Quality are here

• In pursuit of Code Quality series
• How useful are Code Metrics ?

I wish that the info around Code Quality is helpful for my blog readers

Happy Testing…

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In this post, I will be sharing my views on Static Analysis and how the same is useful for Software Testing. Using Static Analysis in Testing will also be called or simulated as Static Testing.  Static analysis / testing a method to validate the software without executing the same.

The generic definition for Static Testing is that

Testing of an Application at the specification or implementation level without execution of that Application.

Static Analysis helps a lot for better Code Quality and we can perform the following set activities against the source code.

1. Identify the bug patterns in the source code
2. Capture Metrics
3. Complexity of the System (eg. Cyclomatic Complexity)
4. Compliance against Standards (eg. check for the Java Coding Guidelines)
5. Exception Handling (Captures the code that contains Unhandled exceptions)
6. Infinite Loops
7. Copy Paste Dectors (Most of the developers used to reuse the code via a copy paste and introduce some issues in the process)
8. Duplicate Code
9. Dead Code

We should be able to restrict most of the above said issues at very early stage of SDLC by applying Static Testing techniques and make these part of the build process.