Code qaulity has become very important in relation to any project written these days. The client is no more just concerned about the desired functionality working fine, he is more towards the quality code doing his job. And for this, enters the vast field of code quality metrics, analysis, improvement techniques and bla bla bla.

Eclipse, for Java developers has become much more than just an IDE. It has become a dashboard/desktop where a programmer does everything in his daily routine. Using Eclipse has become more fun with plugins to control the daily jobs.. setting songs in Winamp, chatting with google talk, email notifications and browsing the web.

So how would it be to use Eclipse to monitor the quality metrics of a project? How would it be to see the coverage reports right inside the coding window? The linked article presents a very good thorough decription of the methodology which can be employed using various plugins to improve the code quality right inside Eclipse.

I would differ from the author on the use of Checkstyle for analysis of project coding standards. PMD coding standards tool seems to be a much better options with more rules, and the ability to be prioritized/optionized using the XML rule set. Another good tool is Hammurapi, with its fast engine, and powerful rule definitions. The only downside of Hammurapi is that no Eclipse plugins exist, to the best of my knowledge. If it would have been so, then I would have recommended Hammurapi over all others.

Anyways, read the article, provides a wealth of information.

Link to Automation for the people: Improving code with Eclipse plugins