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Revision as of 09:42, 19 May 2017
Template:New unreviewed article
Visual Expert
Visual Expert is a static program analyzer, extracting design and technical information from software source code by reverse-engineering, helping programmers with software maintenance [1] [2], modernization[3] or optimization.
Features
- Code exploration: call graphs, CRUD matrix, cross-references, dependency graphs [4].
- Software documentation: a documentation generator produces technical documentation and low-level design descriptions[5].
- Code comparison: finds differences between several versions of the same code.
- Automated code review: calculates software metrics and source lines of code. Finds unused objects and methods. Identifies duplicate objects. Controls naming conventions.
Usage
Visual Expert is used in several contexts:
- Change impact analysis: evaluating the consequences of a change in the code or in a database. Avoiding negative side effects when evolving a system.(ref: VE 4.5 by Bill Green) (ref vers code review de Georges Mikhailovsky sur un autre site de Novalys)
- Program comprehension: helping programmers understand and maintain existing code, or modernize legacy systems. Transferring knowledge of the code, from one programmer to another.
- Software sizing: calculating the size of an application, or a piece of code, in order to estimate development efforts.
- Code review: auditing source code, in order to discover issues, such as dead code, code causing poor performances or violations of programming conventions.
Limitations
- As a static code analyzer, Visual Expert is limited to the programming languages supported by its code parsers - Oracle PL/SQL, SQL Server Transact-SQL, PowerBuilder.
- A preliminary reverse engineering is required, with a duration depending on the size of the code parsed. Users must wait for the parsing completion prior to using the features, or schedule it in advance.
- Visual Expert is based on a client/server architecture: the code analysis is running on a windows PC - preferably a server. The information extracted from the code is stored in a RDBMS, communicating with a client application installed on the programmer’s computer - no web client available. This implies that the code, the parsers, the RDBMS and the programmers’ computers are connected to the same LAN or VPN.
History
- 1995- 1998 - Prog and Doc[6]
- 2001 - Visual Expert 4.5[5]
- 2003 - Visual Expert 5
- 2007 - Visual Expert 5.7[7][8]
- 2010 - Visual Expert 6.0[9]
- 2015 - Visual Expert 2015
- 2016 - Visual Expert 2016
- 2017 - Visual Expert 2017
References
- ^ Dr Kankey, Roland D. "The challenge of software maintenance costing" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Maintenance and Reengineering" (PDF). Surana College.
- ^ "Essential guide to application modernisation". Computer Weekly.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Visual Expert for PowerBuilder". Guru PowerBuilder.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b Green, Bill. "Visual Expert v4.5 Review".
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=requires|archive-url=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Prog & Doc (french page from Web Archive)". Eurelys. 7 July 1997.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Pollach, Chris (APRIL 23, 2007). "Visual expert 5.7 released".
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Armstrong, Bruce (April 27, 2007). "Visual Expert 5.7".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Novalys introduces Visual Expert 6.0". DBTA.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help)