Why Don't Software Developers Use Static Analysis Tools to Find Bugs?
Venue
International Conference on Software Engineering (2013), pp. 672-681
Publication Year
2013
Authors
Brittany Johnson, Yoonki Song, Emerson Murphy-Hill, Robert Bowdidge
BibTeX
Abstract
Using static analysis tools for automating code inspections can be beneficial for
software engineers. Such tools can make finding bugs, or software defects, faster
and cheaper than manual inspections. Despite the benefits of using static analysis
tools to find bugs, research suggests that these tools are underused. In this
paper, we investigate why developers are not widely using static analysis tools and
how current tools could potentially be improved. We conducted interviews with 20
developers and found that although all of our participants felt that use is
beneficial, false positives and the way in which the warnings are presented, among
other things, are barriers to use. We discuss several implications of these
results, such as the need for an interactive mechanism to help developers fix
defects.
