On 1/20/06, Frank W. Zammetti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ...but I think what's more important to note is that Checkstyle doesn't > just catch simple formatting problems, it catches code smells and things > that can cause subtle problems > > The kinds of things I'm talking about are covered by rules like > DefaultComesLast, FallThrough, HiddenField, IllegalCatch, > InnerAssignment, MagicNumber, NestedIfDepth, ParameterAssignment, > ReturnCount and ThisParameter. And that doesn't even mention all the > rules pertaining to metrics, which usually uncover places that can and > probably should be refactored. > > I wish I could find it now (Google isn't turning it up), but a while > back I saw an analysis of various projects that correlated Checkstyle > complaints to reported bugs in a project. Now, I'm usually of the > "lies, damn lies and statistics" mentality, but the apparent correlation > was plain to see. My own experience bears out the conclusion of that > report. > > Plus, there is something to be said for code that is consistently > formatted in terms of being able to comprehend it. The less your brain > has to switch gears looking at different coding styles, the better. It > doesn't matter what style you implement, as long as there is consistency. > > In my mind, code with as few Checkstyle complaints as possible is better > code without question. At work I actually require all code have no > Checkstyle *OR* PMD complaints before it can be deployed to production,
You should add FindBugs to that list. It finds real, serious bugs that the other two don't. We use all three tools at my day job, to good effect. -- Martin Cooper and I've noticed a marked reduction in "simple" bugs, i.e., those that > generally aren't a big deal to fix and maybe will never cause any real > problems but which can build up over time and ultimately just make code > more difficult to maintain. I view it as more than a "broken windows" > kind of thing :) In fact, I personally put quite a bit of importance in > it (as I would a broken window in my house, but I digress - LOL) > > Frank > > Don Brown wrote: > > I think it is more of a "broken windows" kind of thing. For a long > > time, we've ignored Checkstyle but recently, there has been some concern > > that we not let our code degenerate, at least regards to formatting. > > These types of issues usually come up around release time. > > > > Don > > > > Patrick Lightbody wrote: > >> Just curious: what is the motivation for the checkstyle process in the > >> first place? Code standards can be important, but usually it isn't my > >> top concern. Is there some Apache requirement that the checkstyle > >> process run? > >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> Posted via Jive Forums > >> > http://forums.opensymphony.com/thread.jspa?threadID=14802&messageID=29811#29811 > >> > >> > >> > >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > -- > Frank W. Zammetti > Founder and Chief Software Architect > Omnytex Technologies > http://www.omnytex.com > AIM: fzammetti > Yahoo: fzammetti > MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
