From: Ryan Davis <ryand-ruby@...>
Date: 2010-11-10T07:02:53+09:00
Subject: Re: Analyzer for errors in code ?


> But I asked for something more simplistic, like revealing trivial errors
> like mentioned variable name typo.

What should a ruby lint tool do with the below code?

def method_missing(*) # at _any_ scope: instance, class, module, global...
  # ...
end

def x
  a = 20
  b = 30
  puts c
end

my vote: nothing...

It is impossible to determine in a language like ruby w/o executing it. This is why we write tests. I know you're looking for something to catch "simple" errors... but you also want it to be correct. You can't have both. For every correctness checker attempt, I can make it wrong.

From: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/CompTheory/scooping.pdf