NDepend

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Exploring .NET Core 3.0 new API

.NET Core 3.0 is representing a major step for the .NET community. It is interesting to analyze what’s new in the API directly from the compiled bits. In this post I will first explain how to diff .NET Core 3.0 against .NET Core 2.2 with NDepend, and then how to browse diff results.

Arguably the biggest progress of .NET Core 3.0 will be the support for Winforms and WPF on the Windows platform. Since everything is new here, compare to .NET Core 2.2, we won’t analyze this part. However it will be interesting to analyze .NET Fx Winforms/WPF APIs vs .NET Core 3.0 Winforms/WPF APIs in another post (that I finally wrote here).

Analyzing two versions of .NET Core with NDepend

It takes a few minutes to download NDepend trial, install it and start VisualNDepend.exe, and it takes a few minutes to compare .NET Core 3.0 against .NET Core 2.2. If you want to browse the diff on your machine, expect 5 to 10 minutes to get hands-on.

First Start VisualNDepend.exe and click Compare 2 versions of a code base:

How to compare 2 versions of a code base

For both builds, choose Add Assemblies in Folder:

Choose C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App\2.2.2 for Older Build
Choose C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App\3.0.0-preview-27324-5 for Newer Build

Respectively 156 and 161 assemblies are gathered. Click Ok to run two analysis, on older and newer build. Both analysis results will be then diffed automatically.

Ready to compare 2 versions of .NET Core

Querying new API

Let’s start with a few CQLinq code queries to explore the new .NET Core 3.0 APIs:

This query match all new public code elements, including new assemblies, namespace, types, methods and fields:

from x in Application.CodeElements
where x.WasAdded()  
 && (!x.IsTypeOrMember || x.AsTypeOrMember.IsPubliclyVisible)
select x

from x in Application.CodeElements

where x.WasAdded()

&& (!x.IsTypeOrMember || x.AsTypeOrMember.IsPubliclyVisible)

select x

Use the NDepend query result to browse this large new API set : 5 new assemblies, 83 new namespaces, 297 new types, 4 924 new methods and 307 new fields. Note that code elements with pink background are not matched by the query, they are just here for preserving the code hierarchy in the result:

Download here this long list obtained by exporting the query result to excel. For a better result formatting I actually used this refined query to show properly parent assemblies/namespaces/types in excel columns:

from x in Application.CodeElements
where x.WasAdded()  
 && (!x.IsTypeOrMember || x.AsTypeOrMember.IsPubliclyVisible)
select new { x, 
Assembly = x.IsAssembly ?  x.Name : 
           x.IsNamespace ? x.Parent.Name : 
                           x.AsTypeOrMember.ParentAssembly.Name,

Namespace = x.IsAssembly ?  " " : 
            x.IsNamespace ? x.Name: 
                            x.AsTypeOrMember.ParentNamespace.Name,

Type = x.IsAssembly ? " " :
       x.IsNamespace ? " " :
       x.IsType ? x.Name:
       x.AsMember.ParentType.Name,

Member = x.IsMember ? x.Name : " "
}

from x in Application.CodeElements

where x.WasAdded()

&& (!x.IsTypeOrMember || x.AsTypeOrMember.IsPubliclyVisible)

select new { x,

Assembly = x.IsAssembly ? x.Name :

x.IsNamespace ? x.Parent.Name :

x.AsTypeOrMember.ParentAssembly.Name,

Namespace = x.IsAssembly ? " " :

x.IsNamespace ? x.Name:

x.AsTypeOrMember.ParentNamespace.Name,

Type = x.IsAssembly ? " " :

x.IsNamespace ? " " :

x.IsType ? x.Name:

x.AsMember.ParentType.Name,

Member = x.IsMember ? x.Name : " "

}

It is interesting to just focus on the 297 new public types with the code query below. Download the list here or browse the same list at the end of this post.

from t in Application.Types
where t.IsPubliclyVisible && t.WasAdded() 
select t

from t in Application.Types

where t.IsPubliclyVisible && t.WasAdded()

select t

It is also interesting to browse the new 1.101 public methods and 38 public fields added on public types that existed already in .NET Core 2.2. Download this list here.

from m in Application.Members
where m.IsPubliclyVisible 
   && m.WasAdded()
   && !m.ParentType.WasAdded()
select new { m }

from m in Application.Members

where m.IsPubliclyVisible

&& m.WasAdded()

&& !m.ParentType.WasAdded()

select new { m }

API Breaking Changes

NDepend proposes 6 default rules to browse API breaking changes.

These rules matche 19 public types removed from .NET Core 2.2 (see list below) 176 public methods removed and 36 public fields removed

Listing Methods Changed

Exploring the API evolution is useful for API consumers. For those working on the framework .NET Core itself, it is interesting to also browse implementation changes. The NDepend search by change panel proposes various options for that. Note that this search panel is actually a code query generator. The Edit query button proposes to edit and refine the currently generated query.

Another interesting point is that it is a semantic implementation change. All matched methods do behave differently at runtime. This makes this tool ideal to plan code change review without bothering with formatting and comments change.

Matched code elements can be highlighted in the metric view. From the screenshot above we can see at a glance that System.Xml and System.Data are much more stable than System.RunTime for example. By zooming in the view, we can get more information about which code was churned.

In the query result panel, a code element is underlined when its implementation changed. If you have compiled both source versions on your machine and analyzed those compiled versions, you can right click an underlined method and directly compare the diff in source code.

I hope you see value both in the results offered and in the how-to-diff procedure that can be applied to any .NET code base, assuming you have 2 versions to compare.

New .NET Core 3.0 types

Here is the list of the 297 new types added to .NET Core 3.0.

ParentAssembly	Full Name
WindowsBase	System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System.Xml.Linq	System.Xml.XPath.XDocumentExtensions
System.Threading.ThreadPool	System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem
System.Threading.Tasks	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorMethodBuilder
System.Threading.Tasks	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonCommentHandling
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonTokenType
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonDocument
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonElement
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json .JsonElement+ArrayEnumerator
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json .JsonElement+ObjectEnumerator
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonProperty
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonValueType
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonReaderException
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonReaderOptions
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonReaderState
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.Utf8JsonReader
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonWriterOptions
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.JsonWriterState
System.Text.Json	System.Text.Json.Utf8JsonWriter
System.Security.Principal.Windows	System.Security.Principal .WindowsAccountType
System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives	System.Security.Cryptography .PbeEncryptionAlgorithm
System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives	System.Security.Cryptography .PbeParameters
System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms	System.Security.Cryptography.AesCcm
System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms	System.Security.Cryptography.AesGcm
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.CornerRadius
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.DurationType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Duration
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.GridUnitType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.GridLength
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Thickness
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.LayoutCycleException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Markup .XamlParseException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Automation .ElementNotAvailableException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Automation .ElementNotEnabledException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Matrix
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Media3D.Matrix3D
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation.KeyTime
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation .RepeatBehaviorType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation .RepeatBehavior
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml	Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives .GeneratorPosition
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	Windows.UI.Color
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	Windows.Foundation.Point
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	Windows.Foundation.Rect
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	Windows.Foundation.Size
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.WindowsRuntimeSystemExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.IO .WindowsRuntimeStorageExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.IO.WindowsRuntimeStreamExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.Threading.DispatcherQueueHandler
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.Threading.DispatcherQueuePriority
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.AsyncInfo
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.WindowsRuntimeBuffer
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime	System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime .WindowsRuntimeBufferExtensions
System.Runtime.Serialization	System.Runtime.Serialization .ISerializationSurrogateProvider
System.Runtime.Loader	System.Runtime.Loader .AssemblyDependencyResolver
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.MidpointRounding
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86 .FloatComparisonMode
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Aes
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Avx
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Avx2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi1
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Fma
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Lzcnt
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Pclmulqdq
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Popcnt
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse3
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse41
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse42
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Ssse3
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Aes
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Base
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Sha1
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64 .Sha256
System.Runtime.Intrinsics	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Simd
System.Runtime.InteropServices	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IDispatchConstantAttribute
System.Runtime.InteropServices	System.Runtime.InteropServices .StandardOleMarshalObject
System.Runtime.InteropServices	System.Runtime.InteropServices .NativeLibrary
System.Runtime.Extensions	System.AppDomainSetup
System.Runtime.Extensions	System.Security.IStackWalk
System.Runtime.Extensions	System.Security.PermissionSet
System.Runtime.Extensions	System.Security.Permissions .PermissionState
System.Runtime.Extensions	System.Runtime.ProfileOptimization
System.Runtime	System.ArgIterator
System.Runtime	System.IAsyncDisposable
System.Runtime	System.Index
System.Runtime	System.Range
System.Runtime	System.Text.Rune
System.Runtime	System.Text.StringRuneEnumerator
System.Runtime	System.Globalization.ISOWeek
System.Runtime	System.Threading.Tasks.Sources .ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore<TResult>
System.Runtime	System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
System.Runtime	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorStateMachineAttribute
System.Runtime	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .CallerArgumentExpressionAttribute
System.Runtime	System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Runtime	System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerator<T>
System.Private.CoreLib	System.IAsyncDisposable
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Index
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Range
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Text .StringBuilder+ChunkEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Text.Rune
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Text.SpanRuneEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Text.StringRuneEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Globalization.ISOWeek
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Buffers.OperationStatus
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Buffers.StandardFormat
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Buffers.Text.Utf8Formatter
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Buffers.Text.Utf8Parser
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Buffers.Binary.BinaryPrimitives
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Threading.Tasks.Sources .ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore<TResult>
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Loader .AssemblyDependencyResolver
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorMethodBuilder
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorStateMachineAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .CallerArgumentExpressionAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T >+Enumerator
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi1+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi2+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Lzcnt+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Popcnt+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse2+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse41+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse42+X64
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .DllImportResolver
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .NativeLibrary
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivationContext
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivationContextInternal
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivator
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComEventInterfaceAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .DefaultParameterValueAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Diagnostics.DebugProvider
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Private.CoreLib	System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerator<T>
System.Private.CoreLib	Internal.Resources.PRIExceptionInfo
System.Private.CoreLib	Internal.Resources .WindowsRuntimeResourceManagerBase
System.Private.CoreLib	Internal.Threading.Tasks .AsyncCausalitySupport
System.Private.CoreLib	Internal.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.ExceptionSupport
System.ObjectModel	System.Reflection.ICustomTypeProvider
System.ObjectModel	System.ComponentModel .TypeConverterAttribute
System.ObjectModel	System.ComponentModel .TypeDescriptionProviderAttribute
System.ObjectModel	System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System.Net.Sockets	System.Net.Sockets.SafeSocketHandle
System.Memory	System.Text.SpanRuneEnumerator
System.Memory	System.Buffers.SequenceReader<T>
System.Memory	System.Buffers.SequenceReaderExtensions
System	System.StringNormalizationExtensions
System	System.Reflection.ICustomTypeProvider
System	System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System	System.Runtime.InteropServices .StandardOleMarshalObject
System	System.Diagnostics.ConsoleTraceListener
System	System.Diagnostics .XmlWriterTraceListener
System	System.Diagnostics.StackFrameExtensions
System	System.Security.SecureStringMarshal
System	System.Net.Sockets .SocketReceiveFromResult
System	System.Net.Sockets .SocketReceiveMessageFromResult
System	System.Net.Sockets.SocketTaskExtensions
System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener	System.Diagnostics.ConsoleTraceListener
System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener	System.Diagnostics .XmlWriterTraceListener
System.Data	System.Xml.XmlDataDocument
System.Data	System.Data.Common.DbColumn
System.Data	System.Data.Common .DbDataReaderExtensions
System.Data	System.Data.Common .IDbColumnSchemaGenerator
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography.AesCng
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography.DSACng
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .TripleDESCng
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography.ECCurve
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .ECParameters
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography.ECPoint
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .IncrementalHash
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates.CertificateRequest
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates .DSACertificateExtensions
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates .SubjectAlternativeNameBuilder
System.Core	System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates.X509SignatureGenerator
System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter	System.ComponentModel.VersionConverter
System.ComponentModel.Primitives	System.ComponentModel .InvalidAsynchronousStateException
System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations	System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionPr ovider
System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations	System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .MetadataTypeAttribute
System.ComponentModel.Annotations	System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionPr ovider
System.ComponentModel.Annotations	System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .MetadataTypeAttribute
mscorlib	System.TupleExtensions
mscorlib	System.AppDomainSetup
mscorlib	System.Globalization .GlobalizationExtensions
mscorlib	System.Threading.ThreadPoolBoundHandle
mscorlib	System.Threading.PreAllocatedOverlapped
mscorlib	System.Runtime.ProfileOptimization
mscorlib	System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .RuntimeFeature
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IsByRefLikeAttribute
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ITuple
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IsReadOnlyAttribute
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .TupleElementNamesAttribute
mscorlib	System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IDispatchConstantAttribute
mscorlib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .RuntimeInformation
mscorlib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .Architecture
mscorlib	System.Runtime.InteropServices .OSPlatform
mscorlib	System.Reflection.Emit.DynamicILInfo
mscorlib	System.Security.IStackWalk
mscorlib	System.Security.PermissionSet
mscorlib	System.Security.Permissions .PermissionState
mscorlib	System.Security.Principal .WindowsAccountType
mscorlib	System.Diagnostics.Tracing .EventSourceCreatedEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Collection
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.ComClassAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .MyGroupCollectionAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.VariantType
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedArrayAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedStringAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBMath
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .DeleteDirectoryOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .RecycleOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SearchOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .UICancelOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.UIOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .MalformedLineException
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SpecialDirectories
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .TextFieldParser
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .BooleanType
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DecimalType
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Versioned
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DoubleType
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .StartupNextInstanceEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .UnhandledExceptionEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices .NetworkAvailableEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CallType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Collection
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.ComClassAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .HideModuleNameAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .MyGroupCollectionAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Strings
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.VariantType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedArrayAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedStringAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBMath
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .DeleteDirectoryOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .RecycleOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SearchOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .UICancelOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.UIOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .MalformedLineException
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SpecialDirectories
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .TextFieldParser
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .BooleanType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Conversions
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DecimalType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DesignerGeneratedAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate0
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate1
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate2
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate3
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate4
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate5
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate6
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate7
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .IncompleteInitialization
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .NewLateBinding
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ObjectFlowControl
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ObjectFlowControl+ForLoopControl
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Operators
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .OptionCompareAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .OptionTextAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ProjectData
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .StandardModuleAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .StaticLocalInitFlag
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Utils
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Versioned
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DoubleType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .StartupNextInstanceEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .UnhandledExceptionEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core	Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices .NetworkAvailableEventArgs

Shotgun Surgery: What It Is and How to Stop It

I really love the name “shotgun surgery” for describing a code smell. It’s sort of an interesting mix of aggressive and comical, and so it paints a memorable picture. I kind of picture Elmer Fudd blasting away at a codebase and then declaring “ship it” and doing some kind of one-click production push.

But misappropriating Looney Tunes aside, what actually is shotgun surgery?

Well, it’s a specific code smell in your codebase. Shotgun surgery happens when you have to make many changes in your codebase to achieve seemingly simple tasks. Often, you’ll find yourself making changes to code that seems pretty similar, either copy-pasted directly, or else of similar intent.

Continue reading Shotgun Surgery: What It Is and How to Stop It

5 Tips to Help You Visualize Code

Source code doesn’t have any physical weight — at least not until you print it out on paper. But it carries a lot of cognitive weight. It starts off simply enough. But before long, you have files upon files, folders upon folders, and more lines of code than you can ever keep straight. This is where the quest to visualize code comes in.

The solution file and namespaces organization make for a pretty unhelpful visualization aid. But that’s nothing against those tools. It’s just not what they’re for. Nevertheless, if the only way you attempt to visualize code involves staring at hierarchical folders, you’re gonna have a bad time.

How do most people handle this? Well, they turn to whiteboards, formal design documents, architecture diagrams, and the like. This represents a much more powerful visual aid, and it tends to serve as table stakes of meaningful software development.

But it’s a siren song. It’s a trap.

Why? Well, as I’ve discussed previously, those visualization aids just represent someone’s cartoon of what they think the code will look like when complete. You draw up a nice layer-cake architecture, and you wind up with something that looks more like six tumbleweeds glued to a barbed wire fence. Those visual aids are great…for visualizing what everyone wishes your code looked like.

What I want to talk about today are strategies to visualize code — your actual code, as it exists.

Continue reading 5 Tips to Help You Visualize Code

Static analysis of .NET Core 2.0 applications

NDepend v2017.3 has just been released with major improvements. One of the most requested features, now available, is the support for analyzing .NET Core 2.0 and .NET Standard 2.0 projects. .NET Core and its main flavor, ASP.NET Core, represents a major evolution for the .NET platform. Let’s have a look at how NDepend is analyzing .NET Core code.

Resolving .NET Core third party assemblies

In this post I’ll analyze the OSS application ASP.NET Core / EntityFramework MusicStore hosted on github. From the Visual Studio solution file, NDepend is resolving the application assembly MusicStore.dll and also two test assemblies that we won’t analyze here. In the screenshot below, we can see that:

NDepend recognizes the .NET profile, .NET Core 2.0, for this application.
It resolves several folders on the machine that are related to .NET Core, especially NuGet package folders.
It resolves all 77 third-party assemblies referenced by MusicStore.dll. This is important since many code rules and other NDepend features take into account what the application code is using.

It is worth noticing that the .NET Core platform assemblies have high granularity. A simple website like MusicStore references no fewer than 77 assemblies. This is because the .NET Core framework is implemented through a few NuGet packages that each contain many assemblies. The idea is to release the application only with needed assemblies, in order to reduce the memory footprint.

NDepend v2017.3 has a new heuristic to resolve .NET Core assemblies. This heuristic is based on .deps.json files that contain the names of the NuGet packages referenced. Here we can see that 3 NuGet packages are referenced by MusicStore. From these package names, the heuristic will resolve third-party assemblies (in the NuGet store) referenced by the application assemblies (MusicStore.dll in our case).

Analyzing .NET Standard assemblies

Let’s be clear that NDepend v2017.3 can also analyze .NET Standard assemblies. Interestingly enough, since .NET Standard 2.0, .NET Standard assemblies reference a unique assembly named netstandard.dll and found in C:\Users\[user]\.nuget\packages\NETStandard.Library\2.0.0\build\netstandard2.0\ref\netstandard.dll.

By decompiling this assembly, we can see that it doesn’t contain any implementation, but it does contain all types that are part of .NET Standard 2.0. This makes sense if we remember that .NET Standard is not an implementation, but is a set of APIs implemented by various .NET profiles, including .NET Core 2.0, the .NET Framework v4.6.1, Mono 5.4 and more.

Browsing how the application is using .NET Core

Let’s come back to the MusicStore application that references 77 assemblies. This assembly granularity makes it impractical to browse dependencies with the dependency graph, since this generates dozens of items. We can see that NDepend suggests viewing this graph as a dependency matrix instead.

The NDepend dependency matrix can scale seamlessly on a large number of items. The numbers in the cells also provide a good hint about the represented coupling. For example, here we can see that 22 members of the assembly Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.dll are used by 32 methods of the assembly MusicStore.dll, and a menu lets us dig into this coupling.

Clicking the menu item Open this dependency shows a new dependency matrix where only members involved are kept (the 32 elements in column are using the 22 elements in rows). This way you can easily dig into which part of the application is using what.

All NDepend features now work when analyzing .NET Core

We saw how to browse the structure of a .NET Core application, but let’s underline that all NDepend features now work when analyzing .NET Core applications. On the Dashboard we can see code quality metrics related to Quality Gates, Code Rules, Issues and Technical Debt.

Also, most of the default code rules have been improved to avoid reporting false positives on .NET Core projects.

We hope you’ll enjoy using all your favorite NDepend features on your .NET Core projects!

Should You Aim for 100 Percent Test Coverage?

Test coverage serves as one of the great lightning rods in the world of software development. First, people ask whether it makes for a good metric at all. Then they ask, if you want to use it as a metric, should you go for 100 percent coverage? If not, what percentage should you go for? Maybe 42 percent, since that’s the meaning of life?

I don’t mean to trivialize an important discussion. But sometimes it strikes me that this one could use some trivializing. People dig in and draw battle lines over it, and counterproductive arguments often ensue. It’s strange how fixated people get on this.

I’ll provide my take on the matter here, after a while. But first, I’d like to offer a somewhat more philosophical look at the issue (hopefully without delving into overly abstract navel-gazing along the lines of “What even is a test, anyway, in the greater scheme of life?”)

What Does “Test Coverage” Measure?

First of all, let’s be very clear about what this metric measures. Many in the debate — particularly those on the “less is more” side of it — quickly point out that test coverage does not measure the quality of the tests. “You can have 100 percent coverage with completely worthless tests,” they’ll point out. And they’ll be completely right.

To someone casually consuming this metric, the percentage can easily mislead. After all, 100 percent coverage sounds an awful lot like 100 percent certainty. If you hired me to do some work on your car and I told you that I’d done my work “with 100 percent coverage,” what would you assume? I’m guessing you’d assume that I was 100 percent certain nothing would go wrong and that I invited you to be equally certain. Critics of the total coverage school of thought point to this misunderstanding as a reason not to pursue that level of test coverage. But personally, I just think it’s a reason to clarify definitions.

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How to Use NDepend’s Trend Charts

Imagine a scene for a moment. A year earlier, a corporate VP spun up a major software project for his organization. He brought a slew of his organization’s software developers into the project. But he also needed to add more staff in the form of contractors.

This strained the budget, so he cut a few corners in terms of team member experience. The VP reasoned that he could make up for this with strategic use of experienced architects up front. Those architects would prototype good patterns and make it so the less seasoned contractors could just kind of paint by numbers. The architects spent a few months doing just that and handed the work off to the contractors.

Fast forward to the present. Now a consultant sits in a nice office, explaining to a beleaguered VP how they got so far behind schedule. I can picture this scene quite easily because organizations hire me to be this consultant. I live this scene over and over again.
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Static Analysis Issue Management Gets a Boost

Years ago, I led a team of software developers. We owned an eclectic portfolio of software real estate. It included some Winforms, Webforms, MVC, and even a bit of WPF sprinkled into the mix. And, as with any eclectic neighborhood, the properties came in a variety of ages and states of repair.

Some of this code depended on a SQL Server database that had a, let’s just say, casual relationship with normalization. Predictably, this caused maintenance struggles. But, beyond that, it caused a credibility gap when we spoke to non-technical stakeholders. “What do you mean you can’t give a definitive answer to how many sales we made last year?” “Well,” I’d try to explain, “I can’t say for sure because the database doesn’t explicitly define the concept of a sale.”

Flummoxed by the mutual frustration, I tried something a bit different. Since I couldn’t easily explain the casual, implied relationships in the database, I decided to do a show and tell. First, I went out and found a static analyzer for database schema. Then, I brought in some representative stakeholders and said, “watch this.” With a flourish (okay, not really), I turned the analyzer loose on the schema.

While they didn’t grok my analogies, they the tens of thousands of warnings and errors made an impression. In fact, it sort of terrified them. But this did bridge the credibility gap and show them that we all had some work to do. Mission accomplished.

Static Analyzer Issues

I engaged in something of a relationship hack with my little ploy. You see, I know how this static analyzer would behave because I know how all of them tend to behave. They earn their keep by carpet bombing your codebase with violations and warnings. Out of the box, they overwhelm, and then they leave it to you to dial it back. Truly, you can take this behavior to the bank.

So I knew that this creaky database would trigger thousands upon thousands of violations. And then I just sat back waiting for the “magic” to happen.

I mention all of this to paint a picture of how static analyzers typically regard the concept of “issue.” All categories of severity and priority generally roll up into this catch-all term, and it then refers to the itemized list of everything. Your codebase has issues and it has lots of them. This is how the tool earns its mindshare and keep — by proving how much it can surface, and then doing so.

Thus you might define the concept simply as “all that stuff the static analyzer finds.”

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Exploring the Technical Debt In Your Codebase

Recently, I posted about how the new version of NDepend lets you compute tech debt. In that post, I learned that I had earned a “B” out of the box. With 40 minutes of time investment, I could make that an “A.” Not too shabby!

In that same post, I also talked about the various settings in and around “debt settings.” With debt settings, you can change units of debt (time, money), thresholds, and assumptions of working capacity. For folks at the intersection of tech and business, this provides an invaluable way to communicate with the business.

But I really just scratched the surface with that mention. You’re probably wondering what this looks like in more detail. How does this interact with the NDepend features you already know and love?

Well, today, I’d like to take a look at just that.

To start, let’s look at the queries and rules explorer in some detail.

Introducing Quality Gates

Take a look at this screenshot, and you’ll notice some renamed entries, some new entries, and some familiar ones.

In the past, “Code Smells” and “Code Regressions” had the names “Code Quality” and “Code Quality Regression,” respectively. With that resolved, the true newcomers sit on top: Quality Gates and Hot Spots. Let’s talk about quality gates.

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The Relationship Between Team Size and Code Quality

Over the last few years, I’ve had the occasion to observe lots of software teams. These teams come in all shapes and sizes, as the saying goes. And, not surprisingly, they produce output that covers the entire spectrum of software quality.

It would hardly make headline news to cite team members’ collective skill level and training as a prominent factor in determining quality level. But what else affects it? Does team size? Recently, I found myself pondering this during a bit of downtime ahead of a meeting.

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Adding Static Analysis to Your Team’s DNA

Stop me if this sounds familiar. (Well, not literally. I realize that asynchronous publication makes it hard for you to actually stop me as I type. Indulge me the figure of speech.) You work on a codebase for a long time, all the while having the foreboding sense of growing messiness. One day, perhaps when you have a bit of extra time, you download a static analyzer to tell you “how bad.”

Then you have an experience like a holiday-time binge eater getting on a scale on January 1st. As the tool crunches its results, you wince in anticipation. Next, you get the results, get depressed, and then get busy correcting them. Unlike shedding those holiday pounds, you can often fix the most egregious errors in your codebase in a matter of days. So you make those fixes, pat yourself on the back, and forget all about the static analyzer, perhaps letting your trial expire or leaving it to sit on the shelf.

If you’re wondering how I got in your head, consider that I see this pattern in client shops frequently. They regard static analysis as a one time cleanup effort, to be implemented as a small project every now and then. Then, they resolve to carry the learning forward to avoid making similar mistakes. But, in a vacuum, they rarely do.
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