A conceptual design for a code analysis knowledge base

A knowledge base system for inter‐module code analysis is presented. Inter‐module code analysis is a technique that a programmer can use to analyse programs written in languages that contain a clustering construct called a module (or package). A module allows a programmer to control the visibility of a component within a program. The knowledge base for inter‐module code analysis is designed using the enhanced entity‐relationship conceptual data model, which is a graphical representation of the data and its relationships. The conceptual design for a code analysis enterprise is mapped into a knowledge base system, which uses a declarative logic‐based language to represent data as both facts and rules. The use of this knowledge base in an inter‐module code analysis application is demonstrated.