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Cppcheck VS Splint

Compare Cppcheck VS Splint and see what are their differences

Cppcheck logo Cppcheck

Cppcheck is an analysis tool for C/C++ code. It detects the types of bugs that the compilers normally fail to detect. The goal is no false positives. CppCheckDownload cppcheck for free.

Splint logo Splint

Splint Home Page
  • Cppcheck Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13
  • Splint Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-01-23

Cppcheck features and specs

  • Open Source
    Cppcheck is open-source software, which means it is free to use and its source code is available for modification and distribution under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
  • Static Analysis
    Cppcheck excels at performing static code analysis, detecting bugs, memory leaks, and potential issues in C and C++ code without executing the program.
  • Wide Platform Support
    Cppcheck supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS, making it versatile and accessible to developers on different operating systems.
  • Integrated with IDEs
    Cppcheck can be integrated with popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Code::Blocks, providing seamless code analysis during development.
  • Customizable
    Cppcheck allows customization of its analysis through command-line options and configurations, enabling users to tailor the tool to their specific needs and project requirements.
  • Extensive Reporting
    Cppcheck provides detailed reports that highlight various types of issues, making it easier for developers to identify and resolve problems efficiently.
  • Regular Updates
    Cppcheck is actively maintained, with regular updates and improvements that enhance its capabilities and address any newly discovered issues.

Possible disadvantages of Cppcheck

  • False Positives
    Cppcheck may sometimes produce false positives, flagging issues that are not actually problematic, which can lead to unnecessary debugging efforts.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may encounter a learning curve when first using Cppcheck, as they need to understand its configuration options and how to interpret its output effectively.
  • Limited Dynamic Analysis
    Cppcheck focuses on static analysis and does not provide dynamic analysis capabilities, which means it cannot detect issues that only occur at runtime.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running Cppcheck on large codebases can introduce performance overhead, potentially slowing down the development process if not managed properly.
  • Complex Configuration
    For complex projects, configuring Cppcheck to ignore certain false positives or to focus on specific types of issues can be challenging and time-consuming.

Splint features and specs

  • Static Analysis
    Splint is designed to perform static analysis of C programs, allowing developers to catch bugs early in the development process without executing the program.
  • Custom Annotations
    It supports custom annotations, enabling developers to specify intended behaviors and constraints, which helps in identifying more domain-specific issues.
  • Free and Open Source
    Splint is free to use and open source, making it accessible for individual developers and smaller teams who may not have the resources for expensive software tools.
  • Wide Adoption in Academia
    The tool is widely used in academic settings as a teaching aid for programming and software engineering courses due to its educational value in illustrating software flaws.

Possible disadvantages of Splint

  • Limited Language Support
    Splint is limited to C programs only, which can be a drawback for teams working with multiple programming languages.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with static analysis tools or Splint's annotations, there is a learning curve that might slow down initial adoption.
  • Outdated Documentation
    Some users have reported that the documentation is outdated or lacking in certain areas, which can make understanding and using the tool more challenging.
  • Manual Work Required
    To get the most out of Splint, developers may need to manually annotate code, which can be time-consuming and may not fit well into all development workflows.

Cppcheck videos

Cppcheck

More videos:

  • Review - Daniel Marjamäki: Cppcheck, static code analysis

Splint videos

Will a Night Splint Help Your Plantar Fasciitis? We Review 3 Braces.

More videos:

  • Review - Will A Night Splint Help Your Plantar Fasciitis?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Cppcheck and Splint)
Code Analysis
80 80%
20% 20
Code Coverage
78 78%
22% 22
Code Review
79 79%
21% 21
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Cppcheck and Splint

Cppcheck Reviews

Top 9 C++ Static Code Analysis Tools
Cppcheck is a popular, open-source, free, cross-platform static code analysis tool dedicated to C and C++. It is known for being easy to use and its simplicity is one of its pros. To get started with it you don’t have to do any adjustments or modifications, which is why it’s often recommended for beginners. It also has a reputation of reporting a relatively small number of...

Splint Reviews

We have no reviews of Splint yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Cppcheck might be a bit more popular than Splint. We know about 10 links to it since March 2021 and only 9 links to Splint. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Cppcheck mentions (10)

  • Configuring Cppcheck, Cpplint, and JSON Lint
    I dedicated Sunday morning to going over the documentation of the linters we use in the project. The goal was to understand all options and use them in the best way for our project. Seeing their manuals side by side was nice because even very similar things are solved differently. Cppcheck is the most configurable and best documented; JSON Lint lies at the other end. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Enforcing Memory Safety?
    Using infer, someone else exploited null-dereference checks to introduce simple affine types in C++. Cppcheck also checks for null-dereferences. Unfortunately, that approach means that borrow-counting references have a larger sizeof than non-borrow counting references, so optimizing the count away potentially changes the semantics of a program which introduces a whole new way of writing subtly wrong code. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Static Code analysis
    For my own projects, I used cppcheck. You can check out that tool to get a feel. Depending on what industry your in, you might need to follow a standard like Misra. Source: about 2 years ago
  • How do you not shoot yourself in the foot ?
    Https://cppcheck.sourceforge.io/ (there are many other static analysis tools, I just haven't used them or didn't care for them). Source: about 2 years ago
  • Linting tool for prohibiting the use of specific std types
    Sounds like something that could simply be communicated with the team that writes the tests. Unless you have dozens of such classes. In that case, you could just use e.g. Cppcheck and add a rule (regular expression) that searches for usages of the forbidden classes. Source: over 2 years ago
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Splint mentions (9)

  • C-rusted: The Advantages of Rust, in C, without the Disadvantages
    Whenever I see people talk about the portability or compatibility advantages of C, I'm reminded of how "even C isn't compatible with C", because you typically aren't talking about up-to-date GCC or LLVM on these niche platforms... you're talking about some weird or archaic vendor-provided compiler... Possibly with syntax extensions that static analyzers like splint will choke on. (Splint can't even understand near... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Announcing Rust 1.67.1
    Huh. I think I actually needed to use the equivalent position for certain splint annotations in my C retro-hobby project. Source: over 2 years ago
  • US NGO Consumer Reports also reporting on C and C++ safety for product development.
    I often like to say that Rust's bindings are a way to trick people into writing the compile-time safety annotations that they didn't want to write for things like splint. (Seriously. Look into how much splint is capable of checking with the correct annotations.). Source: over 2 years ago
  • “Rust is safe” is not some kind of absolute guarantee of code safety
    Linters like Splint [0] can do that for C. I’m not saying that Rust’s built-in approach isn’t better, but please be careful about what exactly you claim. [0] http://splint.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Glauber's Journey from rust to typescript
    (Sort of like how, for my DOS hobby project, I use splint to require explicit casts between typedefs so I can use the newtype pattern without having to manually reach into wrapper struct fields in places that don't do conversions.). Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Cppcheck and Splint, you can also consider the following products

SonarQube - SonarQube, a core component of the Sonar solution, is an open source, self-managed tool that systematically helps developers and organizations deliver Clean Code.

Coverity Scan - Find and fix defects in your Java, C/C++ or C# open source project for free

Clang Static Analyzer - The Clang Static Analyzer is a source code analysis tool that finds bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C...

PVS-Studio - PVS-Studio is a useful piece of software for detecting problems in source code. The software examines program codes written in C, C++, and C# for any problems that might prohibit the code from functioning properly.

Parasoft C/C++test - Ensure compliance with a variety of functional safety, security, and coding standards in embedded C/C++ software.

Checkmarx - The industry’s most comprehensive AppSec platform, Checkmarx One is fast, accurate, and accelerates your business.