Dr. Dobb's | IBM Rational Releases Source Code Analyzer

IBM Rational Releases Source Code Analyzer

Tool takes a "grammar checker" approach to catching software bugs

July 30, 2008
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/tools/ibm-rational-releases-source-code-analyz/209900391

According to the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), bug-ridden, poor quality software costs U.S. businesses $59.9 billion annually. Moreover, says Caper Jones, the cost of identifying and repairing a software defect in a product that is already being used by consumer can cost upwards of $16,000 for each defect. Which is why IBM has introduced IBM Rational Software Analyzer, a tool that intelligently catches bugs and other defects while software is being written, instead of after it ships.

"The world is increasingly dependent on software, and in turn business processes and new products represent the majority of new requirements levied on development teams," says IBM's Daniel Sabbah. "Software project failures impact the bottom line and as levels of complexity in software continue to rise, software developers need to create more stable software in less time. This is the business reality of software and systems delivery."

Demand for on time and under budget IT projects is not a new phenomenon nor is the challenge of creating high-caliber software code. IBM claims that Rational Software Analyzer reduces the time development teams spend on time-consuming and error-prone manual testing processes, letting developers focus more on building software programs. For example, the Rational Software Analyzer has functions similar to the grammar checker commonly found in wordprocessing software, yet this technology helps developers find code and style errors instead of grammatical structure and diction. The software also provides suggestions on how to fix the bugs.

Built as an Eclipse 3.3 plug-in, IBM Rational Software Analyzer finds software errors, flags them and makes suggestions, reducing time spent reviewing software code prior to a software build. Much like an author follows rules and proof reads regularly to ensure a story is understandable and cohesive, Rational Software Analyzer can automatically scan each line of code up to 700 times, "grammar checking" the code before it goes into production.