Most influential programmers say that code must be self-documenting. They find comments useful only when working with something uncommon. Our team shares this opinion. Recently we came across a code snippet that perfectly proves it.
Example of How New Diagnostics Appear in PVS-Studio
Users sometimes ask how new diagnostics appear in the PVS-Studio static analyzer. We answer that we draw inspiration from a variety of sources: books, coding standards, our own mistakes, our users' emails, and others. Recently we came up with an interesting idea of a new diagnostic. Today we decided to tell the story of how it happened.
COVID-19 Research and Uninitialized Variable
There is an open project COVID-19 CovidSim Model, written in C++. There is also a PVS-Studio static code analyzer that detects errors very well. One day they met. Embrace the fragility of mathematical modeling algorithms and why you need to make every effort to enhance the code quality.
Finding Typos in the GTK 4 Project by PVS-Studio
You may have already read a recent article about the first PVS-Studio run and filtration of warnings. We used the GTK 4 project as an example. It's about time we worked with the received report in more detail. Our regular readers may have already guessed that this article will be a description of errors found in the code.
Why PVS-Studio Doesn't Offer Automatic Fixes
Static analyzer PVS-Studio can detect bugs in pretty complex and intricate parts of code, and coming up with appropriate fixes for such bugs may be a tough task even for human developers. That's exactly the reason why we should avoid offering any options for automatic fixing at all. Here are a couple of examples.
Part 2: Upsetting Opinions about Static Analyzers
By writing the article "Upsetting Opinions about Static Analyzers" we were supposed to get it off our chest and peacefully let it all go. However, the article unexpectedly triggered robust feedback. Unfortunately, the discussion went in the wrong direction, and now we will make a second attempt to explain our view of this situation.
Why it is important to apply static analysis for open libraries that you add to your project
Modern applications are built from third-party libraries like a wall from bricks. Their usage is the only option to complete the project in a reasonable time, spending a sensible budget, so it's a usual practice. However, taking all the bricks indiscriminately may not be such a good idea. If there are several options, it is useful to take time to analyze open libraries in order to choose the best one.
Dark code-style academy: line breaks, spacing, and indentation
Hey guys! Let me walk you through the next part of our dark-style code academy. In this post, we will discover some other ways how to slow down the reading speed of your code. The next approaches will help you to decrease maintenance and increase a chance to get a bug in your code. Ready? Let's get started.
Dark code-style academy: spoil if statement
Do you want to raise your salary? Do you want always to be in demand? Do you want to have your job as long as you want? It is absolutely real! You just need to change the way you write your code. Basically, you need to increase your job security. You have to write code which will be almost impossible to maintain for everyone except you. And in these series of articles, I will tell you how to achieve it. Welcome under the cut.
Static Analysis: baseline VS diff
Translation
If you use static analyzers, you will have, sooner or later, to address the task of making their integration into existing projects easier, where fixing all warnings on legacy code is unfeasible.
The purpose of this article is not to help with integration but rather to elaborate on the technicalities of the process: the exact implementations of warning suppression mechanisms and pros and cons of each approach.
The purpose of this article is not to help with integration but rather to elaborate on the technicalities of the process: the exact implementations of warning suppression mechanisms and pros and cons of each approach.
How to introduce a static code analyzer in a legacy project and not to discourage the team
It is easy to try a static code analyzer. But it requires skills to introduce it in the development of an old large project. If the approach is incorrect, the analyzer can add work, slow down development, and demotivate the team. Let's briefly discuss how to properly integrate static analysis into the development process and start using it as part of CI/CD.
The Anatomy of LuaJIT Tables and What’s Special About Them
I don't know about you, but I really like to get inside all sorts of systems. In this article, I’m going to tell you about the internals of Lua tables and special considerations for their use. Lua is my primary professional programming language, and if one wants to write good code, one needs at least to peek behind the curtain. If you are curious, follow me.
What does «clean code» mean in 2020?
«Clean Code» and a clean cat
There is nothing developers enjoy better than arguing about clean code: Dan Abramov, for example, has recently fueled the hype with his blog post, «Goodbye, Clean Code».
However, “clean code” per se doesn’t even have a clear definition. The main book on the subject is Clean Code, where Robert «Uncle Bob» Martin states that there are perhaps as many definitions as there are programmers. But he doesn’t walk away from the fact with a conclusion that there’s no reason to discuss clean code, rather — compare several definitions and highlight general ideas. Therefore he cites the views of several outstanding programmers on what clean code is.
So we have also become interested in what people in 2020 think of clean code. Have the views changed since the publication of the book? Do opinions vary in different IT fields (maybe backend developers perceive the idea of clean code differently from testers)?
This spring, Uncle Bob comes to St. Petersburg to give talks at our three conferences: they are about .NET development, testing and JavaScript. Therefore, we’ve asked speakers from each of those conferences to share their opinion on clean code so we could compare the opinions of the industry experts in 2020.
We've already published the results in Russian, and here's the English version. Since the topic is known to provoke discussions, feel free to give your own definition or argue about those already given!
UPD: When we posted this article, Uncle Bob had our conferences in his schedule. Unfortunately, the situation has changed. We updated this post on March 12, to avoid any misunderstanding.
C++ Inliner Improvements: The Zipliner
Visual Studio 2019 versions 16.3 and 16.4 include improvements to the C++ inliner. Among these is the ability to inline some routines after they have been optimized, referred to as the «Zipliner.» Depending on your application, you may see some minor code quality improvements and/or major build-time (compiler throughput) improvements.
MobX or Redux: Which is Better For React State Management?
In JavaScript, state management is a hot of discussion these days. When it comes to implementing state management, developers often find it challenging dealing with boilerplate code in Redux. Hence, MobX has proved to be a good alternative to Redux which gives the same functionality with less code to write. However, both state management tools work well with React.
Let's first have a look at the common things between the two:
1) Both support time-travel debugging
2) Both contain open-source libraries
3) Both provide a client-side state management
4) Both provide huge support for React native frameworks
In this blog, we have listed all the pros and cons of both state management solutions. It will help web developers to choose the best one for their next project. Before discussing this, we have compared both Redux and Mobx based on some parameters as given below:
Complexity Waterfall and Architecture on Demand
When talking about "bad code" people almost certainly mean "complex code" among other popular problems. The thing about complexity is that it comes out of nowhere. One day you start your fairly simple project, the other day you find it in ruins. And no one knows how and when did it happen.
But, this ultimately happens for a reason! Code complexity enters your codebase in two possible ways: with big chunks and incremental additions. And people are bad at reviewing and finding both of them.
For professors' note: use PVS-Studio to get students familiar with code analysis tools
Our support chats and some other indirect signs showed that there are many students among our free users. Here's the reason: PVS-Studio is now more often used by professors in courses related to software development. We are very pleased with this, and we decided to write this small article to fall under notice of other teachers. We are pleased that students become acquainted with the methodology of static code analysis in general and the PVS-Studio tool in particular. Our team will try to contribute to this trend.
Detecting in C++ whether a type is defined: Predeclaring things you want to probe
Last time, we used SFINAE to detect whether a type had a definition, and we used that in combination with
However, our usage had a few issues, some minor annoyance, some more frustrating.
We can fix all three of the problems with a single solution: Predeclare the type in the desired namespace.
if constexpr and generic lambdas so that code could use the type if it is defined, while still being accepted by the compiler (and being discarded) if the type is not defined.However, our usage had a few issues, some minor annoyance, some more frustrating.
- You had to say
structall the time. - If the type didn’t exist, the act of naming it caused the type to be injected into the current namespace, not the namespace you expected the type to be in.
- You must use the
structtechnique with an unqualified name. You can’t use it to probe a type that you didn’t import into the current namespace.
We can fix all three of the problems with a single solution: Predeclare the type in the desired namespace.
The Quick Guide for a Web Developer
Translation
Here is tree with 3 levels to start your journey as web developer.
What is a coding bootcamp?
Sandbox
A coding bootcamp is a program of technical training teaching the programming skills that employers are looking for. Coding bootcamps allow students with low skills to concentrate on the most significant coding aspects and apply their new coding skills to solve real-world problems.
The goal of many bootcamp coding attendants is to move into a web development career. They do this by learning to build applications at a professional level – providing the foundation they need to build applications that are ready for production and demonstrating the skills they have to add real value to a potential employer.
The goal of many bootcamp coding attendants is to move into a web development career. They do this by learning to build applications at a professional level – providing the foundation they need to build applications that are ready for production and demonstrating the skills they have to add real value to a potential employer.