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JaCoCo vs PMD: What are the differences?
1. Code coverage vs code quality analysis: JaCoCo primarily focuses on measuring code coverage, which identifies the percentage of code that is executed during the testing process. It helps in identifying areas of the code that have not been tested adequately. On the other hand, PMD is a code quality analysis tool that focuses on identifying potential issues and violations of coding standards in the codebase.
2. JaCoCo is language-agnostic, PMD is Java-specific: JaCoCo supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Kotlin, and Groovy, making it suitable for a wider range of projects. PMD, however, is specifically designed for analyzing Java code and does not support other languages.
3. JaCoCo is primarily a runtime tool, PMD is a static analysis tool: JaCoCo collects data during the runtime of tests, providing information about code coverage and execution paths. PMD, on the other hand, performs static analysis of the source code without requiring the code to be executed. It examines the code structure and syntax to identify potential issues and coding violations.
4. Different types of issues detected: JaCoCo primarily detects issues related to code coverage, such as identifying code blocks that have not been executed or tested adequately. PMD, on the other hand, detects a wide range of coding issues, including potential bugs, unused variables, inefficient code, and violations of coding standards.
5. Integration with other tools: JaCoCo can be easily integrated with build tools like Maven and Gradle and can generate code coverage reports that can be viewed in various formats. PMD can also be integrated with build tools and IDEs but focuses on providing detailed reports about code quality issues and suggestions for improvement.
6. Different levels of integration: JaCoCo is typically integrated into the testing process and requires test cases to be executed to collect data on code coverage. PMD can be integrated into the development process and can be used to identify coding issues early in the development lifecycle, even before writing test cases.
In Summary, JaCoCo focuses on code coverage analysis at runtime for multiple languages, while PMD is a static code analysis tool specifically designed for Java that detects a wider range of coding issues.
