Visual Lint 3.0 currently supports the following static code analysis tools:

Support for TICS Basic for C# (formerly ClockSharp) is under development.

If there is a particular analysis tool you would like to see supported in Visual Lint please contact us.

PC-lint

Visual Lint supports the industry standard PC-lint 9.0 C/C++ static analysis tool by Gimpel Software. PC-lint will thoroughly check your C/C++ source code for bugs, glitches, inconsistencies, non-portable constructs, and much more, so you can find and fix bugs much more quickly than with traditional debugging techniques. It is a command line code analysis tool which can be configured to support a wide variety of compilers and development environments.

Among the many capabilities of PC-lint are:

• Detection of dangling and uninitialised pointers
• Variable initialisation/value tracking
• Variable scoping checks
• Detection of type mismatches and suspicious casts
• Checking of assignment operator and copy constructor behaviour
• Detection of potential memory leaks
• Analysis of thread behaviour
• MISRA C/C++ rule validation

In the 23 years since PC-lint was first released, numerous enhancements have been made to the original product. These include major language enhancements such as C++ support in 1993, and also many ground breaking innovations in static analysis. PC-lint 9.0 continues this tradition by adding ground breaking capabilities such as analysis of thread behaviour, highly capable variable tracking and support for precompiled headers.

PC-lint 9.0 Workstation licences can be purchased directly from our online store; if you require LAN licences please contact us to request a quotation.

CppCheck

CppCheck is an open source C++ analysis tool, and may therefore be freely downloaded. Although not as established as PC-lint, it is evolving rapidly so if you are new to C++ analysis it is definitely worth trying out.

Among the capabilities of CppCheck are:

• Array bounds checking
• Detection of missin constructors
• Variable initialisation and scoping checks
• Verification of exception safety
• Checking of assignment operator and copy constructor behaviour
• Detection of potential memory leaks

cpplint.py

cpplint.py is the Google C++ Style Checker. Although a style checker rather than a static analysis tool, this script complements the Google C++ Style Guide.

As the style checker is implemented as a Python script, you will need a compatible Python installation (we recommend v2.7) in order to run it.

Vera++

Vera++ is a programmable tool for verification, analysis and transformation of C++ source code. It is published as open source software under the Boost Software Licence, and may therefore be freely downloaded.

Vera++ is unusual among established static analysis tools in that it allows you to write your own rules. As such, if you are looking to check code against a custom ruleset this is a tool you should probably be aware of.

FxCop

FxCop is Microsoft's static analysis tool for .NET assemblies. Visual Lint currently supports this tool for the analysis of C# projects, but in due course this will be extended to include other .NET project types such as C++/CLI and VB.NET.

FindBugs

FindBugs is an open source Java static analysis tool which can analyse either individual Java source files or complete Java projects.