Parasoft's Jtest 8 represents, I hope, a new trend in software developers' testing tools—a shift in emphasis from merely impressive cleverness to actual development productivity improvement.

Jtest 8's résumé includes a commendable slate of automated analyses for good Java practices. The product's radar now detects course deviations in Hibernate, Struts, EJB (Enterprise JavaBeans), servlet, JSP (JavaServer Pages) and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) code.

What I find more notable, though, are the product's innovative elements for streamlining code review, especially in dispersed development teams. Jtest 8's Code Review module detects changes to code that should trigger a task of review, packaging those changes and directing them to appropriate team members for attention.

With software development processes now living under the microscope of business process governance, it's important for developers' tools to assist in making their process more consistent and more rigorously documented. I'll enjoy trying to stump Jtest 8, which was released Sept. 11, with obscure wrinkles of Java incorrectness, but I'll also be evaluating the product's readiness to help development teams do a better job. It's not enough for a tool to wave a red flag and say, "That's wrong!" It's about time that tools also should say, "And this is who should fix it."

Look for my review in an upcoming issue and at eweek.com.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.