| Abstract: | One of the techniques employed by programmers during the development process is the use of code and design conventions. These are rules‐of‐thumb or best practices that improve the maintainability of software applications. In general, these conventions are maintained manually by the programmer since automated support is usually restricted to the automatic generation of code. However, the late discovery of convention errors can result in significant costs due to the effort required to correct them. In order to facilitate the early detection of these errors, the Practical Preprocessor for Programming Conventions system, P³ (pronounced P3),is proposed. This tool acts as a preprocessor to the Java compiler by providing facilities for the maintenance of specific object‐oriented code conventions and design principles during the creation of Java programs. This paper presents the design and implementation of the P³ system and also the practical experience of using this facility in a University programming environment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
