IEEE Software
A history of software inspections
Software pioneers
Selective Homeworkless Reviews
ICST '08 Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Software Testing, Verification, and Validation
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It is well known that code reviews are among the most effective techniques for finding bugs [2, 3, 4]. In this paper, we describe a code review tool, SeeCode, which supports the code review process. SeeCode is an Eclipse plug-in and thus naturally integrates into the developer's working environment. It supports a distributed review environment and the various roles used in a review meeting. Reviewers can review the code at the same time, either through a virtual or a face-to-face meeting, or at different times. Review comments and Author navigation through the code are visible to all reviewers. Review comments are associated with line numbers, and the association is maintained when the code is changed by the developer. The integration with the Eclipse [8] Integrated Development Environment (IDE) enables easy code navigation, which is required especially when object-oriented code is reviewed. SeeCode also supports a quantitative feedback mechanism that reports the effectiveness of the ongoing review effort. This feedback is updated as the review progresses, and can be utilized by the review moderator to keep the review process on track. SeeCode has been piloted by several IBM groups with good feedback. The distributed review feature and integration with the IDE are particularly noted by users as key features.