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Leveraging Static Analysis in an IDE

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Generative and Transformational Techniques in Software Engineering IV (GTTSE 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7680))

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Abstract

In recent years, Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) have risen from nicety to an essential part of most programming language tool-chains. Indeed, they are widely seen as critical to the widespread adoption of a new programming language. This is due in part to the emergence of a higher-level dialogue between a developer and his code, made possible by advanced tooling that aids in navigating, understanding, and manipulating code. In turn, much of this advanced tooling relies heavily on various forms of static analysis.

Unfortunately, many practitioners of static analysis methods are not well skilled in incorporating their analyses into an IDE context. The result is often high-powered tools that lack key usability characteristics, and thus fall short of their potential to assist developers.

This tutorial attempts to help bridge the skill gap by describing several applications of static analysis within an IDE setting. We describe the computation and presentation of type hierarchy information, data flow information in the form of def/use chains, the use of a type inferencing engine to detect type-related code ”smells”, and the use of memory effects analysis to determine the safety of certain parallelization-related refactorings.

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  1. Google, 76 9th Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA

    Robert M. Fuhrer

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  1. Robert M. Fuhrer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. FB4, Institut für Informatik, Universität Koblenz-Landau, B 127, Universitätsstr. 1, 56070, Koblenz, Germany

    Ralf Lämmel

  2. Departamento de Informática, Campus de Gualtar, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    João Saraiva

  3. Software Improvement Group, P.O. box 94914, 1090 GX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Joost Visser

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Fuhrer, R.M. (2013). Leveraging Static Analysis in an IDE. In: Lämmel, R., Saraiva, J., Visser, J. (eds) Generative and Transformational Techniques in Software Engineering IV. GTTSE 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7680. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35992-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35992-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35991-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35992-7

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