Code quality improvement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9864586-B2
Application number	US-201615050101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2016
Priority date	Sep 24, 2008
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Techniques enabling an end-user to specify complex concepts consisting of code abstractions, design abstractions and architectural abstractions in rule form are disclosed. In one embodiment, a graphical user interface is provided to guide a user through the process of entering concept specification information in order to define concepts, including the provision of one or more code snippets that are subsequently analyzed to assist the user in specifying the concept. The resulting rules or concept signatures are evaluated by a rule engine to determine the degree to which the underlying concepts are reflected in a given set of code. Recommended measures that need to be taken for transforming code to satisfy a concept may be provided subsequent to the analysis of the code. In this manner, code quality may be improved through systematic analysis of targeted code to demonstrate adherence (or non-adherence, as the case may be) to user-defined concepts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for improving quality of a code listing, the method comprising:
receiving, by at least one processor, a code listing;
receiving, by the at least one processor, concept specification information corresponding to a concept to be identified in the code listing, the concept specification information comprising a code pattern illustrating the concept, wherein the code pattern comprises a predetermined length of source code or object code that defines the concept;
using, by the at least one processor, the concept specification information to define a rule by
parsing the code pattern to generate pre-configured prompts specific to the code pattern,
receiving selection of a code element and a condition related to the code pattern in response to the pre-configured prompts, and
defining the rule based on the received selection of the code element and the condition;

identifying, by the at least one processor, occurrence of the concept in the code listing based on the rule;
generating, by the at least one processor, information regarding the occurrence of the concept in the code listing as an indication of the quality of the code listing; and
recommending, by the at least one processor, a measure to transform the code listing to satisfy the concept to improve the quality of the code listing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the code element comprises a function related to the code pattern.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the condition is based on a context of the code element.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the concept specification information to define the rule further comprises:
receiving, by the at least one processor, selection of a property and a value related to the code element.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein using the concept specification information to define the rule further comprises:
receiving, by the at least one processor, selection of a cardinality related to the property and the value.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein recommending the measure to transform the code listing to satisfy the concept to improve the quality of the code listing further comprises:
identifying, by the at least one processor, features of the code listing to be modified to satisfy the concept.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concept specification information further comprises an indication of an abstraction level applicable to the concept.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the abstraction level applicable to the concept includes separation into block, method, and class abstractions.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the at least one processor, concept identification information corresponding to the concept.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the concept identification information further comprises a coding language identification.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
augmenting, by the at least one processor, the concept specification information with a multi-location pattern definition such that the code pattern provides for definition of a partial concept of the concept.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using, by the at least one processor, the parsed code pattern to pre-configure an input mechanism to define the rule.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, by the at least one processor, selection of the code element of the code pattern using the input mechanism; and
receiving, by the at least one processor, selection of a property of the code element.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating information regarding the occurrence of the concept in the code listing as the indication of the quality of the code listing further comprises:
generating, by the at least one processor, at least one of information concerning presence of the concept in the code listing or information concerning absence of the concept in the code listing.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the at least one processor, a technology indication specific to the code pattern; and
parsing, by the at least one processor, the code pattern based on the technology indication to identify at least one token.

16. An apparatus for improving quality of a code listing, comprising:
a concept specification information receiving input device, executable by at least one processor, to receive concept specification information corresponding to a concept to be identified in a code listing, the concept specification information comprising a code pattern illustrating the concept, wherein the code pattern comprises a predetermined length of source code or object code that defines the concept;
a code pattern based rule definition engine, executable by the at least one processor, to use the concept specification information to define a rule by
parsing the code pattern to generate pre-configured prompts specific to the code pattern,
receiving selection of a code element and a condition related to the code pattern in response to the pre-configured prompts, and
defining the rule based on the received selection of the code element and the condition;

a concept identification engine to receive the defined rule and the code listing, and executable by the at least one processor to identify occurrence of the concept in the code listing based on the defined rule;
a code quality engine, executable by the at least one processor, to generate information regarding the occurrence of the concept in the code listing as an indication of the quality of the code listing; and
a code transformation engine, executable by the at least one processor, to recommend a measure to transform the code listing to satisfy the concept to improve the quality of the code listing.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the code pattern based rule definition engine is executable by the processor to use the concept specification information to define the rule by:
receiving selection of a property and a value related to the code element.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the code pattern based rule definition engine is executable by the processor to use the concept specification information to define the rule by:
receiving selection of a cardinality related to the property and the value.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the code transformation engine is executable by the processor to recommend measures to transform the code listing to satisfy the concept to improve the quality of the code listing by:
identifying features of the code listing to be modified to satisfy the concept.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon machine readable instructions to improve quality of a code listing, the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause a computer system to use:
a concept specification information receiving input device to receive concept specification information corresponding to a concept to be identified in a code listing, the concept specification information comprising a code pattern illustrating the concept, wherein the code pattern comprises a predetermined length of source code or object code that defines the concept;
a parser, executable by a processor, to parse the code pattern to generate a pre-configured prompt specific to the code pattern;
a code pattern based rule generation engine, executable by the processor, to generate at least one rule based on a response to the pre-configured prompt by
receiving selection of a code element

Assignees

• Accenture Global Services Ltd

Inventors

• Kaulgud Vikrant
• Bose Rantham Prabhakara Jagadeesh Chandra
• Prasad Subramanya

Classifications

• G06F11/3604

  Analysis of software for verifying properties of programs (testing of software G06F11/3668) · CPC title

• G06F8/35 Primary

  model driven · CPC title

• G06F8/75 Primary

  Structural analysis for program understanding · CPC title

• G06F8/73

  Program documentation · CPC title