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From: alesha@auto-trol.com (Alec Sharp)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: What does lint do?
Keywords: lint
Message-ID: <1991May31.142316.22332@auto-trol.com>
Date: 31 May 91 14:23:16 GMT
References: <1991May29.173713.7058@netcom.COM> <35026@mimsy.umd.edu> <1991May31.001113.12282@telesoft.com>
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>
>I'm glad that you got your company to use it... it's a step up.  Do folks 
>use it EVERY TIME they compile?  Or is it 'once every ten bug fixes' or
>'once before we ship it'?  I'm not insinuating that this is the way your
>shop does it, merely pointing out that I've yet to see someone that uses lint
>(anywhere near) each time they make a source change.  
>

I'm a lint fanatic and my practices for several years have been: 

1.  Compile code 

2. Lint code using Gimpel's Flexelint (a wonderful product, vastly
better than the lint that comes with UNIX) so that it's completely
error and warning free.  You can turn off certain errors and I have a
very strict, small set of things that are ignored.  

3. Link code and test.  

4. Debug and fix.  If there are errors, compile and lint again.

Lint doesn't take long on a single program, especially relative to the
time it takes to link and test.  Flexelint allows you to lint a single
program, without complaining about the non-use of globals etc.  ANSI C
gives you prototype functions (which Flexelint checks), so you can
check a single program relative to how it fits in with the rest of the
world.

Using lint from the start, and using it religiously, has virtually 
eliminated implementation errors (as opposed to functionality errors).

Alec Sharp...


-- 
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