Static Code Analysis

• Check code for specific quality rules;

• Identify safety and security vulnerabilities;

• Identify “code smells”;

• May be integrated in the development process, in IDEs, in the continuous delivery processes;

• These are tools that ALL can and shall use!

Model program properties abstractly, and look for problems.

Tools come from program analysis.

• Type inference, data flow analysis, theorem proving.

Usually on source code, can be on byte code or disassembly.

Strengths

• Complete code coverage (in theory);

• Potentially verify absence/report all instances of a whole class of bugs;

• Catches different bugs than dynamic analysis;

• Repeatable analysis.

Weaknesses

• High false positive rates;

• Many properties cannot be easily modeled;

• Difficult to build;

• Rarely have all source code in real systems (operating system, shared libraries, dynamic loading, etc.).