Programmer's Language-Aware Spell Checker?

Jerry Asher writes "Not all of my coworkers are careful about spelling errors. Sometimes this causes real embarrassment as spelling errors creep into software interfaces. Does anyone know of spell checkers for programming languages? I don't want a text spell checker, I want a programming-language-aware spell checker. A spell checker that I can pass all of my code through and will flag spelling errors in function names, variable names, and comments, but will ignore language keywords, language constructs and expressions, and various programming styles (camel code, or underscores, or...). I want a spell checker that knows that void *functionSigniture(char *myRoutine) contains one spelling error. Does anyone have such a thing for Java or C++? Are there any Eclipse plugins that do this?"

Comments

Re:How about eyeball Mk 1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, let me introduce you to the famous spelling mistake: HTTP Referer. How about we let computers and people each do what they're good at. Computers are good at comparing strings in a spell checker, and people are good at producing typos, spelling mistakes, and approving fixes. Discipline isn't the solution, better tools are. (I bet there's a spelling mistake in here -- which proves my point that Opera needs a spell check like Firefox!)

Re:May I suggest....

[DarkSkiesAhead]

if you want your code to read like english, you consider a language like COBOL? Not that it would help you with spell checking, per se...

Responses like this entirely miss the point of the question. Same with the "just review your code" responses. It's not a matter of making the language more readable. It's a matter of making the code more usable. Certainly, correct spelling is pointless without other elements of good code practice. However, bad spelling can add a lot of frustration.

I joined a project which already had a few misspelled class names. I'm a fast typer and often I've typed out more of a filename than is spelled correctly before hitting tab to complete the name. Needless to say, I've been trained to hit tab earlier for a few choice files. But it's certainly been an irritation. Similarly, I've been confounded more than once when a function or variable couldn't be found by the compiler, only to realize that I'd spelled a word correctly rather than how the actual name was spelled.

We choose to use English words for our class, function, and variable names for a reason. That reason is mostly defeated by misspelling the English word. A dictionary is a great idea, even for coding languages that don't "read like English".

Re:simple

[YttriumOxide]

It's not so simple when you're not the one writing the code, but have to deal with the results. There's an SDK that I use as a part of my job, developed by our head office in Japan - it's a set of C# classes, and nothing annoys me more than typing "Connection foo = new Connection();", then noticing Visual Studio isn't highlighting it as I'd expect. Hunting around for anywhere up to a minute and eventually finding out it is actually "Conectin" instead of "Connection". If there were a good "programmers spellchecker", I may not need to use it myself, but I could give it to my Japanese colleagues to make MY life easier! (note: the above example is fictitious, but is an illustration of the type of error that I deal with that this would prevent)

Re:How about eyeball Mk 1?

[iapetus]

You're aware of the concept that a bug is cheaper to fix the earlier you spot it? If it's flagged up as soon as it happens I have to rename that one variable in one place, and I can do it at virtually no cost. If it's flagged up after I've finished the work and committed it for review, then I'll need to change it across multiple files (sure, an IDE will do refactorings like that in most cases, but there can be side effects) and recommit. That's a far greater expense.

ego != good_open_minded_programmer

[MindKata]

"Any douche who doesn't realise a misspelt function name will fail to compile clearly hasn't written any code yet."

You clearly fail to see a programmer can also create their own function names, as well as use other peoples functions. So you prove you are a very inexperienced programmer, (and close minded), which adds weight to the idea you are either young or just arrogant. Also your very apparent need to show hostility, shows a degree of insecurity, where you are over compensating, by verbally hitting out at others, in an attempt to appear to be more knowledgeable than you really are.

The easiest way to become a better programmer, is to be more open minded. So far you have failed to demonstrate this.

As a side note, (back in the DOS days of programming), I found the the spell checker in Multiedit very useful (especially when having to work very late at night, after the coffee stopped working! ;)