Automatically establishing significance of static analysis results

Abstract

A static analysis tool configured to determine a significance of static analysis results. The static analysis tool can perform operations that include performing a static analysis of a computer program and generating the static analysis results in response to the performing the static analysis of the computer program. The operations can further include analyzing a description of a result item from the static analysis results, and based on the analyzing the description of the result item, assigning to the result item information from an ontology scheme. The operations can further include determining a significance value for the result item in response to the assigning the information from the ontology scheme and automatically performing an action associated with the result item based on one or more of the information assigned from the ontology scheme or the significance value.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of determining a significance of static analysis results comprising:
 performing a static analysis of a computer program;   generating static analysis results in response to the performing the static analysis of the computer program;   analyzing a result item from the static analysis results;   based on the analyzing the result item, associating the result item with a classification chain that includes a plurality of increasingly broad classifications describing a problem with the computer program;   determining a distribution of significance values for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications based on past static analyses for past result items;   determining a weight for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications, wherein the weight decreases as each of the classifications increases in breadth;   selecting, based on the determined weights and the determined distributions of significance values, a significance value for the result item; and   automatically performing an action associated with the result item based on the significance value.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the distribution significance values were determined before the static analysis of the computer program. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the automatically performing the action associated with the result item comprises:
 organizing each of the distributions of the significance values based on the highest value for each of the distributions of significance values.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the result item is from a first portion of code from the computer program, and further comprising:
 associating another instance of the result item in a second portion of the code with another classification chain describing a different problem with the computer program.   
     
     
         5 . A computer program product for determining significance of static analysis results, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to cause a processor to perform a method comprising:
 performing a static analysis of a computer program;   generating static analysis results in response to the performing the static analysis of the computer program;   analyzing a result item from the static analysis results;   based on the analyzing the result item, associating the result item with a classification chain that includes a plurality of increasingly broad classifications describing a problem with the computer program;   determining a distribution of significance values for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications based on past static analyses for past result items;   determining a weight for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications, wherein the weight decreases as each of the classifications increases in breadth;   selecting, based on the determined weights and the determined distributions of significance values, a significance value for the result item; and   automatically performing an action associated with the result item based on the significance value.   
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the distribution significance values were determined before the static analysis of the computer program. 
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the automatically performing the action associated with the result item comprises:
 organizing each of the distributions of the significance values based on the highest value for each of the distributions of significance values.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the result item is from a first portion of code from the computer program, and wherein the method further comprises:
 associating another instance of the result item in a second portion of the code with another classification chain describing a different problem with the computer program.   
     
     
         9 . A system for determining significance of static analysis results, the system comprising:
 a memory; and   a processor configured to obtain computer usable program code from the memory that causes the processor to perform a method comprising:
 performing a static analysis of a computer program; 
 generating static analysis results in response to the performing the static analysis of the computer program; 
 analyzing a result item from the static analysis results; 
 based on the analyzing the result item, associating the result item with a classification chain that includes a plurality of increasingly broad classifications describing a problem with the computer program; 
 determining a distribution of significance values for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications based on past static analyses for past result items; 
 determining a weight for each of the plurality of increasingly broad classifications, wherein the weight decreases as each of the classifications increases in breadth; 
 selecting, based on the determined weights and the determined distributions of significance values, a significance value for the result item; and 
 automatically performing an action associated with the result item based on the significance value. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the distribution significance values were determined before the static analysis of the computer program. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the automatically performing the action associated with the result item comprises:
 organizing each of the distributions of the significance values based on the highest value for each of the distributions of significance values.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the result item is from a first portion of code from the computer program, and wherein the method further comprises:
 associating another instance of the result item in a second portion of the code with another classification chain describing a different problem with the computer program.