Create a Static Code Analysis Tool

I came across a great article from the geniuses over at ZeroTurnaround(the same group that makes JRebel) on how to make a static code analysis tools, but here are some of the major points:

1. 39% of developers don't monitor their code for quality
2. Good code quality improves predictability (more accurate guesstimations)
3. There are a lot of good and free code quality tools
• Sonar
• PMD
• Checkstyle
• Findbugs
4. Setting up a code analysis server will take some time to tweak and get the rules just right
5. Making sweeping changes to tweak minor violations will probably piss off other developers

Here are the links.  Html Version  | PDF Version

We've been using Sonar for a number of years and it has pretty good integration with the other code analysis tools as well as with Eclipse so you can run a local analysis as well as see any violations as you're viewing the source.  The only gripe I have is that you can't run an analysis against just one file.  It runs against the entire project.