nlpub/watset-java

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

Programmers should not comment out code as it bloats programs and reduces readability.

Unused code should be deleted and can be retrieved from source control history if required.

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

Duplicated string literals make the process of refactoring error-prone, since you must be sure to update all occurrences.

On the other hand, constants can be referenced from many places, but only need to be updated in a single place.

Noncompliant Code Example

With the default threshold of 3:

public void run() {
  prepare("action1");                              // Noncompliant - "action1" is duplicated 3 times
  execute("action1");
  release("action1");
}

@SuppressWarning("all")                            // Compliant - annotations are excluded
private void method1() { /* ... */ }
@SuppressWarning("all")
private void method2() { /* ... */ }

public String method3(String a) {
  System.out.println("'" + a + "'");               // Compliant - literal "'" has less than 5 characters and is excluded
  return "";                                       // Compliant - literal "" has less than 5 characters and is excluded
}

Compliant Solution

private static final String ACTION_1 = "action1";  // Compliant

public void run() {
  prepare(ACTION_1);                               // Compliant
  execute(ACTION_1);
  release(ACTION_1);
}

Exceptions

To prevent generating some false-positives, literals having less than 5 characters are excluded.

The underlying implementation of String::replaceAll calls the java.util.regex.Pattern.compile() method each time it is called even if the first argument is not a regular expression. This has a significant performance cost and therefore should be used with care.

When String::replaceAll is used, the first argument should be a real regular expression. If it’s not the case, String::replace does exactly the same thing as String::replaceAll without the performance drawback of the regex.

This rule raises an issue for each String::replaceAll used with a String as first parameter which doesn’t contains special regex character or pattern.

Noncompliant Code Example

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replaceAll("Bob is", "It's"); // Noncompliant
changed = changed.replaceAll("\\.\\.\\.", ";"); // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replace("Bob is", "It's");
changed = changed.replace("...", ";");

Or, with a regex:

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replaceAll("\\w*\\sis", "It's");
changed = changed.replaceAll("\\.{3}", ";");

See

• {rule:java:S4248} - Regex patterns should not be created needlessly

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data

A dead store happens when a local variable is assigned a value that is not read by any subsequent instruction. Calculating or retrieving a value only to then overwrite it or throw it away, could indicate a serious error in the code. Even if it's not an error, it is at best a waste of resources. Therefore all calculated values should be used.

Noncompliant Code Example

i = a + b; // Noncompliant; calculation result not used before value is overwritten
i = compute();

Compliant Solution

i = a + b;
i += compute();

Exceptions

This rule ignores initializations to -1, 0, 1, null, true, false and "".

See

• MITRE, CWE-563 - Assignment to Variable without Use ('Unused Variable')
• CERT, MSC13-C. - Detect and remove unused values
• CERT, MSC56-J. - Detect and remove superfluous code and values

A dead store happens when a local variable is assigned a value that is not read by any subsequent instruction. Calculating or retrieving a value only to then overwrite it or throw it away, could indicate a serious error in the code. Even if it's not an error, it is at best a waste of resources. Therefore all calculated values should be used.

Noncompliant Code Example

i = a + b; // Noncompliant; calculation result not used before value is overwritten
i = compute();

Compliant Solution

i = a + b;
i += compute();

Exceptions

This rule ignores initializations to -1, 0, 1, null, true, false and "".

See

• MITRE, CWE-563 - Assignment to Variable without Use ('Unused Variable')
• CERT, MSC13-C. - Detect and remove unused values
• CERT, MSC56-J. - Detect and remove superfluous code and values

The underlying implementation of String::replaceAll calls the java.util.regex.Pattern.compile() method each time it is called even if the first argument is not a regular expression. This has a significant performance cost and therefore should be used with care.

When String::replaceAll is used, the first argument should be a real regular expression. If it’s not the case, String::replace does exactly the same thing as String::replaceAll without the performance drawback of the regex.

This rule raises an issue for each String::replaceAll used with a String as first parameter which doesn’t contains special regex character or pattern.

Noncompliant Code Example

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replaceAll("Bob is", "It's"); // Noncompliant
changed = changed.replaceAll("\\.\\.\\.", ";"); // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replace("Bob is", "It's");
changed = changed.replace("...", ";");

Or, with a regex:

String init = "Bob is a Bird... Bob is a Plane... Bob is Superman!";
String changed = init.replaceAll("\\w*\\sis", "It's");
changed = changed.replaceAll("\\.{3}", ";");

See

• {rule:java:S4248} - Regex patterns should not be created needlessly

Calling System.gc() or Runtime.getRuntime().gc() is a bad idea for a simple reason: there is no way to know exactly what will be done under the hood by the JVM because the behavior will depend on its vendor, version and options:

• Will the whole application be frozen during the call?
• Is the -XX:DisableExplicitGC option activated?
• Will the JVM simply ignore the call?
• ...

Like for System.gc(), there is no reason to manually call runFinalization() to force the call of finalization methods of any objects pending finalization.

An application relying on these unpredictable methods is also unpredictable and therefore broken. The task of running the garbage collector and calling finalize() methods should be left exclusively to the JVM.

When logging a message there are several important requirements which must be fulfilled:

• The user must be able to easily retrieve the logs
• The format of all logged message must be uniform to allow the user to easily read the log
• Logged data must actually be recorded
• Sensitive data must only be logged securely

If a program directly writes to the standard outputs, there is absolutely no way to comply with those requirements. That's why defining and using a dedicated logger is highly recommended.

Noncompliant Code Example

System.out.println("My Message");  // Noncompliant

Compliant Solution

logger.log("My Message");

See

• CERT, ERR02-J. - Prevent exceptions while logging data