A Comparative Analysis of Static Code Analysis Tools that check Java Code Adherence to Java Coding Standards

Java programming language is considered highly important due to its extensive use in the development of web, desktop as well as handheld devices applications. Implementing Java Coding standards on Java code has great importance as it creates consistency and as a result better development and maintenance. Finding bugs and standard's violations is important at an early stage of software development than at a later stage when the change becomes impossible or too expensive. In the paper, some tools and research work done on Coding Standard Analyzers is reviewed. These tools are categorized based on the type of rules they cheeked, namely: style, concurrency, exceptions, and quality, security, dependency and general methods of static code analysis. Finally, list of Java Coding Standards Enforcing Tools are analyzed against certain predefined parameters that are limited by the scope of research paper under study. This review will provide the basis for selecting a static code analysis tool that enforce International Java Coding Standards such as the Rule of Ten and the JPL Coding Standards. Such tools have great importance especially in the development of mission/safety critical system. This work can be very useful for developers in selecting a good tool for Java code analysis, according to their requirements.