Code review is systematic examination (often as peer review) of computer source code intended to find and fix mistakes overlooked in the initial development phase, improving both the overall quality of software and the developers' skills. Peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work research or Ideas to the scrutiny of others who are In Computer science, source code (commonly just source or code) is any sequence of statements or declarations written in some Human-readable A software bug (or just “bug” is an error flaw mistake Failure, fault or “undocumented feature” in a Computer program that prevents it Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a Software product In the context of Software engineering, software quality measures how well Software is designed ( quality of design) and how well the software conforms

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Examples 2 Types 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 External links

Introduction

Code reviews can often find and remove common vulnerabilities such as format string exploits, race conditions, memory leaks and buffer overflows, thereby improving software security. In Computer security, the term vulnerability is applied to a weakness in a system which allows an attacker to violate the integrity of that system Format string attacks are a class of software vulnerability discovered around 1999 A race condition or race hazard is a flaw in a System or process whereby the output and/or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent In Computer science, a memory leak is a particular type of unintentional memory consumption by a Computer program where the program fails to release memory In Computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to Online software repositories based on Subversion with Trac, Mercurial, GIT or others allow groups of individuals to collaboratively review code. Subversion ( SVN) is a version control system initiated in 2000 by CollabNet Inc Trac is an Open source, web-based Project management and bug-tracking tool Git is a free Distributed revision control, or software Source code management project with an emphasis on being fast Additionally, specific tools for collaborative code review can facilitate the code review process.

Automated code reviewing software lessens the task of reviewing large chunks of code on the developer by systematically checking source code for known vulnerabilities. Code reviewing software is computer Software that helps humans find flaws in program Source code. A software developer is a person or organization concerned with facets of the software development process wider than design and coding a somewhat broader scope of Flawfinder and Rough Auditing Tool for Security (RATS) are two well-known examples of code reviewing software. Rough Auditing Tool for Security (RATS is an automated code review tool provided originally by Secure Software Inc, who were acquired by Fortify Software Inc

Examples

There are many examples of where it is claimed that adopting code reviews improved a software development project. Notable examples include:

• Blender (software), a 3D graphics design package greatly improved by the open source development community. Blender is a free 3D graphics application It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping texturing rigging, water simulations Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment.
• Linux kernel, once a hobby project of Linus Torvalds, it is now reviewed and improved by hundreds of programmers worldwide. Linux is an operating system kernel used by a family of Unix-like Operating systems These are popularly termed Linux operating systems and Linus Benedict Torvalds ( ˈtuːrvalds born December 28 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer

These claims can be hard to evaluate because each project was implemented only once; it's not possible to know for sure how the project would have turned if it hadn't adopted code reviews, or if it had instead adopted other quality control measures.

Types

Code review practices often fall into two main categories: formal code review and lightweight code review.

Formal code review, such as a Fagan inspection, involves a careful and detailed process with multiple participants and multiple phases. Fagan inspection refers to a structured process of trying to find Defects in development documents such as programming code specifications designs and others during various Formal code reviews are the older, traditional method of review, in which software developers attend a series of meetings and review code line by line, usually using printed copies of the material. A software developer is a person or organization concerned with facets of the software development process wider than design and coding a somewhat broader scope of Formal inspections are extremely thorough and have been proven effective at finding defects in the code under review. However, some criticize formal reviews as taking too long to be practical.

Lightweight code review typically requires less overhead than formal code inspections, though it can be equally effective when done properly. Lightweight reviews are often conducted as part of the normal development process:

• Over-the-shoulder – One developer looks over the author's shoulder as the latter walks through the code.
• Email pass-around – Source code management system emails code to reviewers automatically after checkin is made.
• Pair Programming – Two authors develop code together at the same workstation, such as is common in Extreme Programming. Pair programming is a Software development technique in which two programmers work together at one keyboard Extreme Programming (or XP) is a Software engineering methodology (and a form of Agile software development) Proponents of Extreme Programming and agile
• Tool-assisted code review – Authors and reviewers use specialized tools designed for peer code review. Programmers often find tool-assisted code review to be less tedious and more efficient than some other methods.

Many teams that eschew traditional, formal code review use one of the above forms of lightweight review as part of their normal development process. A code review case study published in the book, Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review, found that lightweight reviews uncovered as many bugs as formal reviews, but were faster and more cost-effective.

Criticism

Some argue that code review is less important when certain rules or secure coding methodologies are followed from the software's inception. The Extreme Programming (XP) approach includes the practice of pair programming, which can be argued to be code review during development. Extreme Programming (or XP) is a Software engineering methodology (and a form of Agile software development) Proponents of Extreme Programming and agile Pair programming is a Software development technique in which two programmers work together at one keyboard XP proponents argue that other XP practices, such as refactoring and creating tests before even writing the code, produces code that doesn't need to be reviewed or rewritten as often and thus speeds software development. Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a Software product

See also

• Software review
• Software inspection
• Debugging
• Software testing
• Static code analysis
• Performance analysis
• SharpForge

External links

• Code Review FAQs
• Peer Code Review
• Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review - Free book on code review
• Exhaustive list of code review tools
• Security code review guidelines
• Code review checklist
• Best Practices for Peer Code Review white paper
• Code review case study
• Why, When, How: Code Review white paper
• "A Guide to Code Inspections" (Jack G. Ganssle)
• Article Four Ways to a Practical Code Review

A software review is "A process or meeting during which a software product is by project personnel managers users customers user representatives or other interested parties for Inspection in Software engineering, refers to peer review of any work product by trained individuals who look for defects using a well defined process Software testing is an Empirical investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test, with respect to the Static code analysis is the analysis of computer Software that is performed without actually executing programs built from that software (analysis performed on executing In Software engineering, performance analysis, more commonly today known as profiling, is the investigation of a program's behavior using information gathered as the SharpForge is a free Open source, web-based Project management and bug-tracking Web application, inspired by SourceForge

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