What are some open source tools to check a software architecture's robustness?

Question

I think it is a tough question but I want to verify the architecture of my software is robust enough.

I've plans to execute these tools on my code:

• Gendarme
• FxCop
• StyleCop
• Visual Studio's code metrics
• Visual Studio's code analysis

But I want some tools to check (among others):

• the relations between assembly's' dependencies
• too strong coupling between my objects
• and so forth.

In a word, I want open source tools to highlight any architectural glitches of my project.

I understand the best tool is an experienced architect, but even the best carpenter needs a good hammer ;)

Answer 1

The built-in Visual Studio tools are good, if you have the advanced editions.

You can also look at nDepend, which is a tool to do static analysis and point out areas of your system that have a high number of dependencies or coupling, among many other features. nDepend is a commercial product, but has a free academic license and is free to use if you are working on open-source development -- so this may or may not meet your criteria.

Be aware that all of these tools have a learning curve, and you are probably not going to have a "silver bullet" that tells you exactly what to change on your system, but they can be really useful to improve performance and maintainability, and reduce risk.