PMD scans Java source code and looks for potential problems

Best practices

Maven plugin usage

Maven PMD Plugin

Best Practices

start with some of the obvious rulesets - just run unusedcode and fix any unused locals and fields. Then, run basic and fix all the empty if statements and such-like. Then peruse the design and controversial rulesets and use the ones you like via a custom ruleset

Using PMD within your IDE is much more enjoyable than flipping back and forth between an HTML report and your IDE

FindBugs, a program which uses static analysis to look for bugs in Java code

Maven http://mojo.codehaus.org/findbugs-maven-plugin/

Netbeans SQE: Software Quality Environment

SQE attempts to provide first-class NetBeans IDE integration for different software quality tools.

Currently supported tools: FindBugs PMD CheckStyle Dependency Finder

Checkstyle is a development tool to help programmers write Java code that adheres to a coding standard