Can you perform the analysis of a source code by reading it? Of course not, because the human eye can neglect many of the flaws present in a source code. Therefore, to ease the work of software developers, many source code analysis tools are present in the market. Those tools readily identify any flaw and mistake in the code and let you know where changes are required. You probably have heard about such tools today, but believe me, such tools exist and can make your life easy. Today’s article by TheAcademicPapers.co.uk is all about discussing the source code analysis tools. There will be a mention of all the tools along with a detailed explanation. So, let’s start our discussion with the following very basic question;
What Is Source Code Analysis?
Source code analysis is the automated testing of a computer program code. Its purpose is to debug the program before it is sold or disturbed. Now, you must also be thinking what a source code is. A source code is a set of statements created with a text editor and saved in a file. You can also create these statements using any visual programming tool. Remember that code analysis means the analysis of the code only. During this analysis, the program does not run. You only test your created code for any flaw and mistake. There are many tools available that you can use to analyse a source code.
How Do You Analyse Source Code?
The source code analysis works on some points. You must make sure that you know those points before analysing your code. A brief description of all those points is as follows;
Write the code
The first step in analysing any code is that you must have a code. You need to write the code first that you want to analyse. You can write your code on any visual programing tool or text editor. Your code is just a set of statements you want your program to perform.
Run a code analyser
After writing the code, the next step is to run the code in a code analyser. The code analyser detects any flaws and mistakes in your code that you may have made while writing it. Also, the coding analyser checks your code against the predefined coding rules.
Review the results
As described earlier, the code analyser checks your code for mistakes and coding errors. After running the code analyser, the next step is to review the results. This review lets you identify the false positives or true negatives.
Remove what needs to be
After performing all the steps mentioned above, you know the coding errors in your code. Now, it is time to remove what needs to be removed from your code. Therefore, you should fix all the issues.
Move on to testing
Once the errors have been fixed, you can move on to testing your code. Testing means running the code and seeing whether it gives the desired outcome or not.
Best Source Code Analysis Tools Of 2022
After reading the information presented above, you must know how the source code analysis work. Now is the time to look at some of the best analysis tools of 2022. Hence, a brief description of the tools along with their features is as follows;
SonarQube
It is one of the most popular source code analysis tools out there. It is a free and open-source tool that performs continuous inspection of code quality. In addition, this analysis tool can detect and report bugs, code smells, and many other security issues. The main features of this tool are as follows;
- It has the ability to integrate with multiple platforms like Github, Azure DevOps, etc.
- Also, it supports 25+ programming languages which are very impressive.
- It classifies the code errors based on their severity. Therefore, the code developers can easily tackle their mistakes.
Checkmarx SAST CxSAST
It is another leading source code analysis tool in the market. This tool can identify hundreds of security vulnerabilities in any code. The best part of this tool is that it also offers advice on how to solve coding errors. Other main features are as follows;
- It can easily be integrated into IDEs and servers.
- It has customizable queries and can handle even the most unique code.
- The developers can run easy incremental scans using this tool.
Synopsis Coverity
With this tool, the developers can readily identify and fix the bugs in their codes. It identifies critical software quality defects in codes. This tool is an easy-to-use, accurate and scalable tool, used by most of coursework writing services. Other features of this tool include;
- It allows the developers to find issues in their code as they write it.
- The filters help a lot in filtering out the vulnerabilities based on many factors.
Veracode Static Analysis
This tool scans deployments thoroughly before they are released for production. In addition to this, this source code analysis tool gives feedback and guidance on resolving the issues. Other features include;
- Real-time error fixing can cut out the mistakes by 60 percent.
- It is a quick tool that does not disturb the workflow
- The average scanning time of this tool is 90 seconds which is quite impressive
Snyk Code
This tool is the fifth most quick and effective source data analysis tool. It boasts of high scanning speeds and uses semantic analysis to find the bugs in the code. It is free to use for individual developers and small teams of developers.
Which Tool Can Do Static Analysis Of Source Code?
The analysis of the source code is of two types. One is the dynamic analysis, and the other is static analysis. Both have different tools to perform analysis. All the tools mentioned above can do static analysis of source code. Therefore, you can read the above tools and know which one is best based on the features.
Conclusion
The source code analysis is an important thing to do while developing different computer programs. It lets you identify the bugs and errors in your statements and corrects them. The tools mentioned above can help you a lot in doing this.
