Build Up To Something

PMD is an open source tool that analyzes Java source code to find potential bugs.PMD scans Java source code and looks for potential problems like:

• Empty try/catch/finally/switch blocks
• Unused local variables, parameters and private methods
• Empty if/while statements
• Overcomplicated expressions - unnecessary if statements, for loops that could be while loops
• Classes with high Cyclomatic Complexity measurements

PMD can also be integrated with Ant for automatic source-code checking, and plug-ins exist for most major IDEs and programmer’s editors.

I recommend an Elliotte Rusty Harold’s article titled Zap bugs with PMD. It is an introductory reading about installing, configuring, and running PMD.