Re: [SrcML] Static source code analysis with SrcML

[Frank R. <fra...@in...>]

On Sat, May 07, 2005 at 05:41:42PM +0200, Leif Bladt wrote:
> I wrote a little document about "Static source code analysis with 
> SrcML". It describes what I want to do in my practical :-) I cut out 
> the part about "Available software", which isn't ready to be published 
> yet.
> 
> http://www.bladt.info/leif/srcml/static_analyze.pdf
> 
> Please feel free to tell me what you think about (criticism, proposals, 
> etc.).

Just a few remarks:

- "The API should provide a basic set of plug-ins for the Analyze Platform"
  Why the API? The API can be considered to be only a collection of helper
  classes and methods for writing programs which use SrcML. It doesn't
  provide any plugins. A plugin can be provided by any third party too.

- You grouped them by subject, but what I'm missing is how the actual
  interface between Analyze Platform and the plugin looks like. Which
  methods does every plugin need to perform its work when run through
  the Analyze Platform? Preferably we don't want to have to call a special
  method for each plugin. To see what I mean think of a third party plugin,
  and how the Analyze Platform will be able to handle it without any
  modifications needed even though you know nothing about what the plugin
  actually does. (We also need a way for the results to be handled)

- I don't quite see the difference between the EmptyStatementNotInLoop and
  the EmptyStructures. Besides the loop exception the only empty statement
  not involved with a structure I can think of would be a NOP command.

- OverrideEqualsHashcode and SuspiciousHashcode are explained a bit too
  shortly. Which two methdos are you thinking of in the first place? And
  what's a hashcode method anyways?

- For 3.2.2 (Javadoc) I was thinking of a more generic support for Javadoc
  (or basically anything like it, as it could as well be used in other 
  languages) within the API. At least something like the dissecting of the
  comment into a description part and the individual "@name text" pairs
  should be available there.

- We already thought about something like NamingConvention too. It would be
  nice if you were able to specify what exactly the naming convention is,
  which was the major problem for implementing that earlier. How can you
  keep the plugin generic, yet give it information about the naming convention
  without knowing to call a special method. And we especially don't want that
  call to happen inside the Analyze Platform.
  But with the new plugin system this problem has been solved on the way.
  The plugin itself defines a naming convention and a company wanting to
  enforce their own naming conventions can simply write a plugin which
  extends from the original one and only modifies the relevant parts to match
  their naming conventions.

- What does SuspiciousEquals do?

-- 
Raiser, Frank
Student @ University of Ulm (www.uni-ulm.de)

All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know 
the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men. (Isaac Asimov)