What’s the one most required thing while writing a C or C++ or for that matter any other computer program?
Yes it’s the compiler, how else your machine will understand what you wrote. But if i just give you a C++ compiler and tell you to write firefox browser (Actually written in C++) will you be able to do that ?
We can do that but we can’t?
It will take so much time for analysis of errors and bugs in the software if we are just using a compiler, that’s why we have tools like Code analysers.
PVS-Studio is one of such static code analyzers for source codes written in C, C++, C# or Java.
What Do We Mean by Static Code Analyzer?
Static program analysis is the analysis of computer software that is performed without actually executing programs.
PVS-Studio is a tool for finding bugs and security weaknesses in your source code of programs, which are written in C, C++, C# and Java. It works under 64-bit systems in Windows, Linux and macOS environments, and can analyze source code intended for 32-bit, 64-bit and embedded ARM platforms.
PVS-Studio detects large amount of bugs in the source code program. It is especially used to find typos and other errors which no professional developer intend to do. The tool currently checks codes from C, C++ and C#. It runs on windows and it greatly integrates with Visual Studio Code. It can be integrated as a plugin into Microsoft Visual Studio Code. It also supports Linux OS where you can check projects and compile GCC and C Lang.
It can also be used to check the quality of the code written which is very much important while we are working on large size projects. PVS-Studio can be integrated with SonarQube which allows managers to check the quality of the code written.
PVS-Studio is used to check many open sourced projects till now. Some of the most highlighted are Android Analysis, Firefox and even the Microsoft Powershell Analysis.
A detailed list of softwares which are checked using PVS-Studio is available here.
Downloading PVS-Studio
Official website of PVS-Studio is www.viva64.com. You can visit the website and download PVS-Studio. It has a trial period free use but after that you have to purchase a license to keep using it. You can fill the form available on the website for the pricing options available. The download section is here.
If you want to know more about buying options its available here.
PVS-Studio is available free for use of educational purposes and Individual Developers.
What you have to do to have free access to the tool?
Its easy, you just have to write two specific lines as comments at that start of every file in your project.
# This is an independent Project of an independent developer. Dear PVS-Studio, Please check it.
# PVS-Studio Static Code Analyzer for C, C++ and C#: www.viva64.com
For more information you can watch below video.
Documentation
PVS-Studio provides a detailed documentation which explains all the process of integrating it with Visual Studio Code and other Operating System.
Documentation can be found here.