Code Analyzer by Lexient

For each symbol in the database, Surveyor collects a number of attributes. These attributes are specific to the type of symbol they describe. Unless otherwise noted, the attribute data is collected and updated by analyzing your source code.

Two groups of attributes play a significant role in quality assurance processes. The file-based source checks point to specific, potentially problematic lines in your code, and are shown in the File Editor and Source Checks reports. The software metrics are quantitative measurements of some aspect of your software, and are typically viewed in the Metrics Tool and other display windows.

General Symbol Attributes

Kind	Additional description of symbol type, such as initialized or library.
Line Number	Line in the source file where definition or declaration of the symbol begins.
Scope	Scope of the symbol, such as global or public.

File-Based Source Checks

Built-In Operators	Indicates that the number of built-in operators in an expression exceeds a user-specified threshold.
Conversion Issue	Flags a conversion which could lose precision or rely on non-portable interpretations of arithmetic or pointers. This includes mixing of signed and unsigned operands when it can lead to portability problems. Also includes right-shifts of signed operands.
Functions in Expression	Indicates that the number of function calls in an expression exceeds a user-specified threshold.
Jump Statement	Flags a goto, break or continue statement which makes control flow more difficult to understand.
K&R Style Declarator	Flags a function declarator that uses old style K&R syntax, which is no longer valid in ANSI C or C++.
Missing Default Case	Flags a switch statement which does not have a default case.
Missing/Mismatched Decl	Indicates an inconsistency between the declaration of a function and the parameters used in a function call. This is mostly effective for C, where prototypes are missing or inconsistent.
Missing Return Type	Flags a function declaration which does not specify the return type.
Needs Compound Statement	Flags a potentially missing compound statement (braces). This includes possible errors caused by a dangling else or by a statement mistakenly disassociated from a while or for.
No Constructor	Indicates that a class does not have a constructor. Best practices recommend that explicit constructors always be defined in order to avoid problems in initializing the class objects.
Omitted Lines	Flags a source line which is ignored by the analyzer due to the current preprocessor settings.
Old Style Allocator	Flags the use of old style memory allocators, such as malloc, realloc, calloc or free, in a C++ program.
Potential Static Function	Indicates that a function is only called from within the file where it is defined, but is not declared static.
Problematic Constructor	Flags a problematic definition in a class constructor. This includes virtual function calls from the constructor and initialization order problems.
Return Ignored	Flags a statement which ignores the result of either a function call or any other expression where the computation is not stored. This typically indicates that error results are being ignored.
Skipped Lines	Flags a source line which is skipped due to syntax problems that the analyzer cannot resolve. If the source compiles in the original development environment, this could be an indication of missing include files or incorrect configuration of the analyzer.
Suspicious Assignment	Flags a suspicious assignment in a conditional expression or argument list, where the assignment might actually be intended as a comparison.
Unclear Subexpression	Flags a subexpression which is potentially not written as intended. Examples are comparisons that can be statically evaluated like unsigned variables and negative numbers. Catches typical suspicious relational operator uses and potential lack of parenthesis.
Unused Global Variable	Indicates that a global variable is never used in the source files loaded into the project.
Unused Local Variable	Indicates that a local variable is never used.
Unused Static Variable	Indicates that a static variable is never used.
Unterminated Case	Flags a case in a switch statement which is not terminated by an explicit transfer of control, such as a break statement.
Variable Number of Args	Flags a function which has a variable number of arguments.

File Level Metrics

Comment Ratio	Ratio of the lines of comments to the lines of source code in the file.
Declarations in File	Number of top-level declarations in the file, including types, variables, functions and macro defines.
File Size (bytes)	Size of the file, in bytes.
Halstead Intelligent Content	Halstead language-independent measure of the amount of content (complexity) of the file.
Halstead Mental Effort	Halstead measure of the number of elemental mental discriminations necessary to create, or understand, the file.
Halstead Program Difficulty	Halstead measure of how compactly the file implements its algorithms. This is the inverse of the Halstead Program Level (of abstraction).
Included Files	Number of header files in the project database which are transitively included by the file.
Lines of Source Code	Number of lines of statements in the file. Lines of Comments Number of lines of comments in the file.
Source Quality Checks	Number of source quality checks reported for the file.
Total Lines	Number of lines in the file.
Variables in File	Number of variables and parameters in the file. For local variables and parameters to be counted, data must be collected with the -locals option enabled.

Other File Level Attributes

Modification Date	Date that the file was last modified.
Owner	Identifier of owner of the file.
Path	Directory location of the file.
Permissions	Read, write and execute permissions for the file.

Class Level Metrics

Attributes	Number of attributes (member variables) of the class.
Class Coupling	Measure of the coupling, or dependency, of the class. Calculation is based on the number of inherited classes, the number of nested classes, the number of calls to static member functions, and the number of parameters and local variables used by class member functions and having a class type. To be accurate, data must be collected with the -locals option enabled. The higher this value, the more effort is required to understand, use and modify the class.
Derived Classes	Depth of the hierarchy of derived classes of the class.
Halstead Intelligent Content	Halstead language-independent measure of the amount of content (complexity) of the class.
Halstead Mental Effort	Halstead measure of the number of elemental mental discriminations necessary to create, or understand, the class.
Halstead Program Difficulty	Halstead measure of how compactly the class implements its algorithms. This is the inverse of the Halstead Program Level (of abstraction).
Inheritance Hierarchy	Depth of the hierarchy of base classes of the class.
Lack of Cohesion of Methods	Measure of the cohesion of the member functions of the class. Calculated as the ratio of methods (member functions) which do not read or set a specific attribute (member variable), averaged over all the attibutes of the class.
Local Methods	Number of local methods (private member functions) of the class.
Member Classes	Number of nested classes (member classes) of the class.
Member Types	Number of member typedefs of the class.
Methods	Number of methods (member functions) of the class.
Total Members of Class	Total number of members of the class.

Function Level Metrics

Coverage	Percentage of blocks of code that were executed (profile data).
Cyclomatic Complexity	McCabe measure of the cyclomatic complexity of the function. This represents the number of linearly independent test paths through the function. It also represents the number of decision points in the function. The higher this number, the more difficult the function is to understand and maintain.
Fan In of Function Calls	Number of functions in the source files loaded into the project which call or read the function, either directly or through function pointers.
Fan Out of Function Calls	Number of functions which are called or read by the function, either directly or through function pointers.
Frequency	Number of times the function was called during execution (profile data).
Halstead Intelligent Content	Halstead language-independent measure of the amount of content (complexity) of the function.
Halstead Mental Effort	Halstead measure of the number of elemental mental discriminations necessary to create, or understand, the function.
Halstead Program Difficulty	Halstead measure of how compactly the function implements its algorithms. This is the inverse of the Halstead Program Level (of abstraction).
Lines in Function	Number of lines in the function.
Statements in Function	Number of lines of statements in the function.
Time	Time spent executing the function (profile data).
Variables in Function	Number of parameters and locals variables in the function. To be accurate (non-zero), data must be collected with the -locals option enabled.

Variable Level Metrics

Functions Reading	Number of functions in the source files loaded into the project which read the variable.
Functions Setting	Number of functions in the source files loaded into the project which set the variable.
Functions Using	Number of functions in the source files loaded into the project which read and/or set the variable.

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