Can Eclipse highlight unreachable code?

Question

I have for example an if clause which is always false (not that the variable is FINAL) e.g.:

public static final boolean FOO = false;
if (FOO) { 
    doSomething(); 
}

I want it to be shown for example in gray in Eclipse. So basically I would like this to work exactly like Visual C++ does this for macro if's which are unreachable.

Update: I want it to be shown real-time just like Eclipse compiles Java all the time when you make changes to code. This should be possible, shouldn't it? I know there are those dead code tools to do this afterwards but that's not what I like to do.

Answer 1

First, you should be aware this is something that is on the verge of being non-computable. Check out the halting problem, if you are unfamiliar with this subject.

Second, there are plug-ins which help in identifying dead code, up to a certain computable limit, such as PMD.

Answer 2

You could try

• Findbugs
• Unnecessary Code Detector plugin

Answer 3

The next version of eclipse (3.5) will have this functionality.

It is currently available from 3.5 milestone 4 onwards as listed in the Eclipse 3.5 M4 - New and Noteworthy

You can get it now by using the latest milestone (3.5M5)

download from the eclipse downloads page