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Guest · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: announcing SemmleCode and .QL

SemmleCode is a new free Eclipse plugin that helps you to improve the
quality of your Java programs:

* navigate code
* find bugs
* compute metrics
* check style rules
* enforce coding conventions

..QL is a query language that configures SemmleCode in achieving these
tasks.

For a quick overview, visit

http://semmle.com

HOW IT WORKS

SemmleCode stores a Java project in a relational database. That
relational representation can then be queried to compute metrics, find
bugs, and so on.

..QL is a new object-oriented query language for writing such queries.
It is very intuitive, and tightly integrated in Eclipse with syntax
highlighting, auto-completion, and continuous checking.

As an example .QL query, here is a query for checking that static
fields in an Enterprise Java Bean are final:

from EnterpriseBean ebean, Field f
where ebean.getAField() = f and
f.hasModifier("static") and
not(f.hasModifier("final"))
select f, f.toString() + " static fields must be also final"

For a full introduction to .QL, consult the tutorial at

http://semmle.com/documentation/semmlecode/tutorial/

DISPLAYING RESULTS

Results of queries can be displayed in a tree view, as pie charts, bar
charts, graphs or in the Eclipse problem view. For instance, the above
query can be displayed as a warning, both in the problem window and
with appropriate warning markers in the code itself.

To get a feel for other visualisations, have a look at these
screenshots:

http://semmle.com/product/semmlecode/screenshots/

INSTALLATION

Installation is extremely easy, via an Eclipse update site. SemmleCode
works with all of the leading database systems. A wizard guides you
through the process of connecting to a database system, or if you
prefer you can use the light-weight database H2 that is distributed
with SemmleCode.

COMMUNITY

SemmleCode and .QL are developed in close consultation with its user
community. Let the Semmle developers know what you think, and share
your own cool queries at

http://semmle.org