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Checkstyle

Checkstyle is a development tool to help programmers write Java code that adheres to a coding standard. Its purpose is to automate the process of checking Java code, and to spare humans of this task.

The program checks for:

• Javadoc comments are defined for class, interface, variable and method declarations.
• Javadoc tags for a method match the actual code.
• The file starts with a specified header. This is useful to ensure that a file has a copyright notice.
• An @author tag exists for class and interface Javadoc comments. This can be turned off.
• Format of variable names match specified regular
expressions. For examp le, can enforce that all static variables must start with "s".
• Class/interface names format matches specified regular expressions.
• Format of parameter names match a specified regular expression.
• Variables that are not declared as private or protected.
• Correct use of white space around binary and unary operators. For examp le, x -=- 1; is illegal, whereas x -= -1; is not.
• Ensure {}'s are used for if/while/for/do constructs.
• Lines are not longer than a specified length.
• Lines do not contain tabs. Note: this check can be turned off.

Last updated 21 Nov, 2003