warlof/slackbot

While not technically incorrect, the omission of curly braces can be misleading, and may lead to the introduction of errors during maintenance.

Noncompliant Code Example

if (condition)  // Noncompliant
  executeSomething();

Compliant Solution

if (condition) {
  executeSomething();
}

See

• MISRA C:2004, 14.8 - The statement forming the body of a switch, while, do ... while or for statement shall be a compound statement
• MISRA C:2004, 14.9 - An if (expression) construct shall be followed by a compound statement. The else keyword shall be followed by either a compound statement, or another if statement
• MISRA C++:2008, 6-3-1 - The statement forming the body of a switch, while, do ... while or for statement shall be a compound statement
• MISRA C++:2008, 6-4-1 - An if (condition) construct shall be followed by a compound statement. The else keyword shall be followed by either a compound statement, or another if statement
• MISRA C:2012, 15.6 - The body of an iteration-statement or a selection-statement shall be a compound-statement
• CERT, EXP19-C. - Use braces for the body of an if, for, or while statement
• CERT, EXP52-J. - Use braces for the body of an if, for, or while statement

If a private field is declared but not used in the program, it can be considered dead code and should therefore be removed. This will improve maintainability because developers will not wonder what the variable is used for.

Noncompliant Code Example

class MyClass {
  private $foo = 4;                       //foo is unused

  public function compute($a) {
    return $a * 4;
  }
}

Compliant Solution

class MyClass {

  public function compute($a) {
    return $a * 4;
  }
}

See

• CERT, MSC12-CPP. - Detect and remove code that has no effect

While not technically incorrect, the omission of curly braces can be misleading, and may lead to the introduction of errors during maintenance.

Noncompliant Code Example

if (condition)  // Noncompliant
  executeSomething();

Compliant Solution

if (condition) {
  executeSomething();
}

See

• MISRA C:2004, 14.8 - The statement forming the body of a switch, while, do ... while or for statement shall be a compound statement
• MISRA C:2004, 14.9 - An if (expression) construct shall be followed by a compound statement. The else keyword shall be followed by either a compound statement, or another if statement
• MISRA C++:2008, 6-3-1 - The statement forming the body of a switch, while, do ... while or for statement shall be a compound statement
• MISRA C++:2008, 6-4-1 - An if (condition) construct shall be followed by a compound statement. The else keyword shall be followed by either a compound statement, or another if statement
• MISRA C:2012, 15.6 - The body of an iteration-statement or a selection-statement shall be a compound-statement
• CERT, EXP19-C. - Use braces for the body of an if, for, or while statement
• CERT, EXP52-J. - Use braces for the body of an if, for, or while statement

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:

function run() {
  prepare('action1');                              // Non-Compliant - 'action1' is duplicated 3 times
  execute('action1');
  release('action1');
}

Compliant Solution

ACTION_1 = 'action1';

function run() {
  prepare(ACTION_1);
  execute(ACTION_1);
  release(ACTION_1);
}

Exceptions

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