Quality and Debugging

Static analysis and formatting

• clang-tidy: static analysis and automated modernize, readability, and bug-prone checks.
• clang-format: automatic code formatting for consistent style.
• Include What You Use: helps reduce unnecessary includes and clarify header dependencies.

Sanitizers

• AddressSanitizer: memory error detection for out-of-bounds access, use-after-free, and similar issues.
• ThreadSanitizer: data-race detection for concurrent code.
• UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer: catches invalid shifts, signed overflow cases, and other undefined behavior.

Practical guidance

• Run clang-tidy early to catch API misuse, modernization gaps, and readability problems before code review.
• Run AddressSanitizer by default in debug or CI builds for native code that touches memory heavily.
• Add ThreadSanitizer when you introduce concurrency rather than after race conditions become intermittent production bugs.

When to use this page

• setting up a local or CI quality loop for a native C++ project
• deciding which diagnostics tool should run first
• debugging memory corruption, undefined behavior, or data races

Suggested workflow order

1. Run clang-format to remove style noise before inspection.
2. Run clang-tidy to catch structural and API-level issues.
3. Run AddressSanitizer for memory-heavy code paths.
4. Add UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer when logic bugs may involve invalid operations.
5. Add ThreadSanitizer for concurrent code or suspected races.

The point is to move from cheap broad feedback toward heavier runtime diagnostics only when they are relevant.