IfSQ

Unreferenced variables strong indicator for other errors

Research Finding:
46 percent of routines with no unused variables had no errors compared to only 17 to 29 percent for those with one or more unreferenced variables.

IfSQ Defect Indicators based on this finding:

• DP-4—Unused Variables
  There are unreferenced variables in the code. Unreferenced variables are a strong indicator for other errors.

Source:

An Empirical Study of Software Design Practices

• David N. Card, Victor E. Church, and William W. Agresti
• Recorded 1986 in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-12, no. 2, February
• Pages 264-71