Master Thesis

Summary

Rule-based code analysis
Master Thesis, October 2013 — April 2014
Author: Stefan Zurfluh
Supervisor: Julian Tschannen

Documents:

• Project plan
• Report

Description

Static code analysis is a powerful means to improving code quality in different contexts and on different levels. Its ultimate goal is – using an automated (but often customizable) analysis tool – to help the programmer write better programs. Be it due to just a typing error (i. e. one that does not lead to a syntactic error), some other form of incautiousness, or perhaps a lack of knowledge – a code analysis framework will be capable of issuing warnings, errors, and even correctional suggestions each referring to a part of the source code. Code analysis is a useful part in the world of software quality improving concepts.

The task in this project is to implement a rule-based code analysis for Eiffel. These rules can for example be about coding style, code structure, or API usage. A basic set of rules helps to enforce a standard coding style, and users can change or extend the existing rules to fit their needs.