A detailed technical description of how to calculate cognitive complexity using Understand’s API and why the cognitive complexity metric could be important to you.
Dependency Networks with Understand
A script to calculate and display design structure matrices based on file dependencies—plus lots of cool metrics based on the matrix.
Custom Report: Finding Parameter Values
Understand’s Python API makes it a great platform for creating quick tools to explore exactly what you are interested in. In this case, I was curious if a default parameter was ever set to a non-default value or if a given parameter is always the same value. Check out these two custom interactive reports that show parameter values for each call.
Feasting on My Own Dog Food
Understand complements my primary editor, VS Code, rather than replacing it. It’s an essential part of my workflow for personal projects, especially when it comes to easily visualizing the underlying types of variables and functions. It’s the best of both worlds!
Data Flow
Our lead engineer uses Understand’s assign references to track data flow and hunt down a memory leak.
Showing Line Coverage
Introducing custom line metrics in Understand – with examples showing coverage and violation information integrated into Control Flow and Data Flow Graphs.
Use Case: Mixed Language Legacy Code Management by the US Air Force
Executive Summary At the heart of the United States Air Force Material Command’s software maintenance operations, SciTools’ Understand software emerges as an essential tool, particularly when tasked with the upkeep of legacy…
Eric Poole: Using Understand to Reverse Engineer Legacy Code
TLDR: Eric Poole has used Understand for over 20 years to understand and reverse engineer legacy code for medical devices and other projects. Eric Poole is a retired software engineering consultant who…
Add Comments When the Code Can’t Explain Itself
TLDR The one certain time you should add comments to code is when the code can’t or doesn’t explain itself. Adding Comments I read a lot of code. And thus, I read…
Clear Writing Equals a Clear Mind
“A common fallacy is to assume authors of incomprehensible code will be able to express themselves clearly in comments.” – Kevlin Henney TLDR Clear writing equals thinking. Since you want your programmers…