Static analysis [software testing]

The author gives a brief introduction to static analysis and how it may be used to develop systems to a higher standard such that they may be used with confidence in high integrity applications. He notes that `static analysis´ is a very general purpose term and there are many tools and techniques available which provide a range of static analysis facilities. To obtain the necessary rigour one should only use those tools which include the ability to give information about the transfer function of an item. In particular, manual static analysis is not adequate although it could have a place as part of formalised QA inspection procedures. The author uses the MALPAS tool set as an illustration of a powerful static analyser