Finding and fixing software code defects is crucial to product quality. It also, however, often proves difficult and time-consuming, especially late in the development cycle. While some believe that code analysis provides a simple way to detect quality defects, Lauesen and Younessi argue otherwise. To prove their point, they analyzed datafromerror reports, and their results show that code analysis detects only a small percentage of meaningful defects.
Citation:
Søren Lauesen, Houman Younessi, "Is Software Quality Visible in the Code?," IEEE Software, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 69-73, July/Aug. 1998, doi:10.1109/52.687949