A code inspection tool comprises a plurality of
physical computing resources connected by a network facility, eg an LAN,
intranet or internet, and a voice conferencing communications facility. The code inspection tool interfaces with a known
configuration management system to load a quantity of original
source code. A group of developers use a plurality of graphical user interfaces to inspect the code. All graphical user interfaces log into display views generated on a main
graphical user interface, which is operated by a human controller of a code inspection session. The code inspection tool comprises means for allowing developers to compile
annotation data and forward the
annotation data from their respective graphical user interfaces to a centralized
data store. Internal algorithms of the code inspection tool compile markers relating the
annotation data files to individual lines of
source code. During a code inspection session, all developers view a same display, which sets out original
source code, side by side with new source code on a line by line basis, matching the line numbers of the original source code with those of the new source code. Changes to the original source code and new source code are visually identified by automatic generation of icons next to the appropriate source code lines on the display. Annotations to the source code lines are indicated by further icons next to the appropriate lines. The tool automatically generates data describing statistics of a code inspection process, for example number of lines inspected, during of a code inspection session, proportion of original and new code lines inspected. Code inspection reports may be generated in a variety of formats, eg
plain text or
HTML, and automatically distributed to individual developers over the networked facility.