The Hope of Code Checkers

[David Fetrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004, Adam Shostack wrote:

> Tools that examine code for things that can lead to
> problems, (eg, RATS, ITS4, splint), and tools that break entire
> classes of problem (stackgaurd, Sana, Okena and the like).
>
> (The code examining tools are the free, static code checkers.  There
> are also dymanic testing tools from companies like spidynamics,
> sanctum, and WhiteHat.)
>
> I think that as these code checking tools improve, we may see an
> improvement in code quality that comes along with that.  Have you
> asked your software vendor what they do to assure code quality lately?


 I wouldn't get too optimistic. Running lint, splint (or even gcc with
 -Wall) on C code you're using now in production can be a depressing
 albeit eye opening exercise.

 Adjust tool and language names for your environment.

 But hey, lint has only been around for *** 30 years *** or so, maybe
 the NEXT generation of coders will do the right thing.



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