Intelligent Code Inspection using Static Code Features : An approach for Java

Effective defect detection is still a hot issue when it comes to software quality assurance. Static source code analysis plays thereby an important role, since it offers the possibility for automated defect detection in early stages of the development. As detecting defects can be seen as a classification problem, machine learning is recently investigated to be used for this purpose. This study presents a new model for automated defect detection by means of machine learn- ers based on static Java code features. The model comprises the extraction of necessary features as well as the application of suitable classifiers to them. It is realized by a prototype for the feature extraction and a study on the prototype’s output in order to identify the most suitable classifiers. Finally, the overall approach is evaluated in a using an open source project. The suitability study and the evaluation show, that several classifiers are suitable for the model and that the Rotation Forest, Multilayer Perceptron and the JRip classifier make the approach most effective. They detect defects with an accuracy higher than 96%. Although the approach comprises only a prototype, it shows the potential to become an effective alternative to nowa- days defect detection methods