Lab 8 -- Static Analysis

Lab 8: Static Analysis
Due: 6:00 PM, Monday, March 31, 2014

This week's lab exercise will introduce you to a tool that analyzes Java code for potential errors. Of course, it is impossible for a program to find all possible errors in another program. However, there are many common errors that can be found.

For a quick introduction to static analysis and to the tool we will be using this week, read through the slides of a talk by William Pugh at the 2009 JavaOne conference. Don't worry too much about technical details of all examples in the talk - just go for the big picture ideas.

The tool we will use this week is called FindBugs from the University of Maryland.

FindBugs finds bugs in Java programs, and is itself a Java program. That makes it very easy to install and use either standalone or as an Eclipse plugin. It is up to you how you decide to run FindBugs.

Follow the instructions in the FindBugs Manual to download, install, and run FindBugs on a computer of your choice.

Copy the Java files from the directory /home/cs433/examples/javageneric on mogul.strose.edu to the computer where you installed FindBugs. Set up a project, add the directory containing the "javageneric" example code to the project and run an analysis.

Question 1: What errors are reported by FindBugs? (2 points)

Question 2: Are these errors legitimate errors? If not, why not? If so, how could they be fixed? (3 points)

Next, we will analyze a larger Java example. If you have a Java program that you'd like to use (minimum 10 non-trival Java classes), please feel free to do so. Otherwise, you can use the "Structure package", the source code of which is available from here. To analyze this one, you'll add the "structure5" directory that is produced when you extract the gzip'ed tar file.

Question 3: Use FindBugs to analyze your larger example (either structure or another package/program of your choosing). Summarize the results, and choose 3 of the reported problems and describe it in more detail. If it is a legitimate error, suggest a fix. If it is not, explain why it is not. (10 points)

Question 4: Use FindBugs to analyze your JUnit tests from the previous lab. For each problem reported by FindBugs, describe it briefly. If it is a legitimate error, suggest a fix. If it is not, explain why it is not. (5 points)

Before 6:00 PM, Monday, March 31, 2014, submit your lab for grading. Package up all required files into an appropriate archive format (.tar.gz, .zip, and .7z are acceptable) and upload a copy of the using Submission Box under assignment "FindBugs".