Coverity Hires Microsoft C# Guru to R&D Team

Coverity, a maker of software development testing tools, announced the hire of Eric Lippert, a former developer on the C# team at Microsoft.

Coverity, a provider of static analysis and development testing tools, has announced the hire of a key Microsoft C# guru, Eric Lippert, as architect in the Coverity research and development organization.

Prior to Coverity, Lippert spent the past 16 years at Microsoft where he worked on the company's C# compiler service project as a principal developer on the C# compiler team. Lippert is also a strong voice in the development community as a prolific blogger on C# and other development topics.

At Coverity, Lippert will expand the company's research and expertise in C# and will lead a team dedicated to improving Coverity's analysis in support of the C# compiler. Lippert begins work with Coverity in January 2013.

In a blog post announcing his plans to move to Coverity, Lippert said: "Most of you probably have not heard of Coverity, but you have almost certainly used software that was affected by their tools. Coverity makes static analysis tools for software developers; these tools analyze source code written in C, C++, Java and C# and tell you about correctness and security issues before they ship to customers. Among their high-profile customers are the Jet Propulsion Lab team that wrote the software for the Curiosity rovers now running around on Mars and the software team for the Large Hadron Collider, which recently confirmed the existence of the Higgs Boson. They also serve more down-to-earth customers; it's not all weird science."

"Eric brings a wealth of experience and insight to our research and innovation initiatives," said Andreas Kuehlmann, senior vice president of research and development at Coverity, in a statement. "His deep history and expertise with C# will allow Coverity to further expand our static analysis capabilities in this area and others. Eric's contributions will be integral to Coverity's ongoing leadership in development testing and we look forward to working more closely with the C# development community as this language continues on its path of rapid adoption."

During his tenure as a principal developer for the C# compiler team at Microsoft, Lippert gained vast technical insight into opportunities for statically analyzing C# code. Lippert worked on the design and implementation of VBScript, JScript, Windows Script Host and Visual Studio Tools for Office, as well as served on the ECMA committee that standardized the JavaScript language.

"As an expert on the design and implementation of static analyzers for C# code—because, after all, that's what the compiler is!—the opportunity to work in downtown Seattle on a small team to improve the C# analysis product was too good to pass up," Lippert said in his post. And so here I am, continuing to try to improve the tools available for C# programmers."

 Lippert is the author of a popular blog, which was featured on the Microsoft Development Network (MSDN) for the past nine years. Eric has also contributed to a number of technical online outlets on development topics and is the author of several books on programming.