[webkit-dev] Static source code analysis

[Darin Adler]

On May 29, 2008, at 6:21 AM, Ferenc, Rudolf wrote:

> - Calculating source code metrics (e.g. highlighting the too complex  
> functions)

I'm not sure this would be valuable. However, there's no harm in  
sending the list of those functions to this mailing list. I just  
wouldn't expect any concrete results from posting such a list.

> - Checking for rule violations (e.g. the reported issues).

So far, the reported issues haven't been critical ones. But bug  
reports with specific issues discovered by the tool are still nice to  
have.

> - Checking for design flaws (so called "bad code smells").

I'm highly skeptical about the value of this. But again, I can't see  
the harm in showing the results to the folks working on the project.

> - Detecting code duplications (copy/paste programming).

This might be helpful. Hard to say, really.

> Would you be interested in these results?

I think it's fine for you to post the results. But please keep your  
expectations low -- it's quite likely these won't show us flaws that  
are more important than the ones already known and reflected in  
bugs.webkit.org bug reports.

> Addressing these issues can significantly improve the quality of the  
> source code regarding testability, complexity and maintainability.

A strong claim!

     -- Darin