diff --git a/docs/pages/release_notes.md b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
index 472047cab8..191d9f5e87 100644
--- a/docs/pages/release_notes.md
+++ b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ For the changes, see [PMD Designer Changelog](https://github.com/pmd/pmd-designe
     *   [#2108](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2108): \[java] \[doc] ImmutableField rule: Description should clarify shallow immutability
     *   [#2461](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2461): \[java] ExcessiveParameterListRule must ignore a private constructor
 *   java-errorprone
+    *   [#2264](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2264): \[java] SuspiciousEqualsMethodName: Improve description about error-prone overloading of equals()
     *   [#2410](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2410): \[java] ProperCloneImplementation not valid for final class
     *   [#2431](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2431): \[java] InvalidLogMessageFormatRule throws IndexOutOfBoundsException when only logging exception message
     *   [#2439](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2439): \[java] AvoidCatchingThrowable can not detect the case: catch (java.lang.Throwable t)
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ For the changes, see [PMD Designer Changelog](https://github.com/pmd/pmd-designe
     *   [#2531](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2531): \[java] UnnecessaryCaseChange can not detect the case like: foo.equals(bar.toLowerCase())
     *   [#2647](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2647): \[java] Deprecate rule DataFlowAnomalyAnalysis
 *   java-performance
+    *   [#1868](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/1868): \[java] false-positive for SimplifyStartsWith if string is empty
     *   [#2441](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2441): \[java] RedundantFieldInitializer can not detect a special case for char initialize: `char foo = '\0';`
     *   [#2530](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2530): \[java] StringToString can not detect the case: getStringMethod().toString()
 
@@ -176,6 +178,17 @@ are deprecated as internal API.
 *   [#2699](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2699): \[java] ProperCloneImplementation not valid for final class - [Mykhailo Palahuta](https://github.com/Drofff)
 *   [#2700](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2700): \[java] Fix OnlyOneReturn code example - [Jan-Lukas Else](https://github.com/jlelse)
 *   [#2722](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2722): \[doc] \[java] ImmutableField: extend description, fixes #2108 - [Mateusz Stefanski](https://github.com/mateusz-stefanski)
+*   [#2723](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2723): \[doc] \[java] SimplifyStartsWith: update description and example, fixes #1868 - [Mateusz Stefanski](https://github.com/mateusz-stefanski)
+*   [#2724](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2724): \[doc] [java] SuspiciousEqualsMethodName: update description, fixes #2264 - [Mateusz Stefanski](https://github.com/mateusz-stefanski)
+*   [#2725](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2725): Cleanup: change valueOf to parse when we need primitive return value. - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2726](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2726): Cleanup: replace StringBuffer with StringBuilder - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2727](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2727): Cleanup: replace indexOf() < 0 with contains - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2728](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2728): Cleanup: javadoc issues - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2729](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2729): Cleanup: use print instead of printf if no format exists - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2730](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2730): Cleanup: StringBuilder issues - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2731](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2731): Cleanup: avoid compiling Patterns repeatedly - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
+*   [#2732](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2732): Cleanup: use StandardCharsets instead of Charset.forName - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess) 
+*   [#2734](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/pull/2734): Cleanup: use try with resources - [XenoAmess](https://github.com/XenoAmess)
 
 
 {% endtocmaker %}
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibility.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibility.java
index 122a368d14..cd933218fd 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibility.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibility.java
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.Reader;
 import java.io.StringReader;
-import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
@@ -138,9 +138,9 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibility {
      */
     String determineEncoding(byte[] bytes) {
         String firstBytes = new String(bytes, 0, bytes.length > 1024 ? 1024 : bytes.length,
-                Charset.forName("ISO-8859-1"));
+                StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1);
         Matcher matcher = ENCODING_PATTERN.matcher(firstBytes);
-        String encoding = Charset.forName("UTF-8").name();
+        String encoding = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name();
         if (matcher.find()) {
             encoding = matcher.group(1);
         }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PMDCommandLineInterface.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PMDCommandLineInterface.java
index 58af4c1bd2..8642562b11 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PMDCommandLineInterface.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PMDCommandLineInterface.java
@@ -60,10 +60,10 @@ public final class PMDCommandLineInterface {
     public static String buildUsageText(JCommander jcommander) {
         StringBuilder usage = new StringBuilder();
 
-        String allCommandsDescription = null;
+        StringBuilder allCommandsDescription = null;
         if (jcommander != null && jcommander.getCommands() != null) {
             for (String command : jcommander.getCommands().keySet()) {
-                allCommandsDescription += jcommander.getCommandDescription(command) + PMD.EOL;
+                allCommandsDescription.append(jcommander.getCommandDescription(command)).append(PMD.EOL);
             }
         }
 
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ public final class PMDCommandLineInterface {
             Renderer renderer = RendererFactory.createRenderer(reportName, new Properties());
             buf.append("   ").append(reportName).append(": ");
             if (!reportName.equals(renderer.getName())) {
-                buf.append(" Deprecated alias for '" + renderer.getName()).append(PMD.EOL);
+                buf.append(" Deprecated alias for '").append(renderer.getName()).append(PMD.EOL);
                 continue;
             }
             buf.append(renderer.getDescription()).append(PMD.EOL);
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/VSRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/VSRenderer.java
index f34622e2f0..cc3af3f2d2 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/VSRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/VSRenderer.java
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@ public class VSRenderer implements Renderer, CPDRenderer {
             for (Iterator<Mark> iterator = match.iterator(); iterator.hasNext();) {
                 mark = iterator.next();
                 writer.append(mark.getFilename())
-                    .append('(').append(String.valueOf(mark.getBeginLine())).append("):")
-                    .append(" Between lines " + mark.getBeginLine() + " and "
-                        + (mark.getBeginLine() + match.getLineCount()) + PMD.EOL);
+                        .append('(').append(String.valueOf(mark.getBeginLine())).append("):")
+                        .append(" Between lines ").append(String.valueOf(mark.getBeginLine())).append(" and ").append(String.valueOf(mark.getBeginLine() + match.getLineCount())).append(PMD.EOL);
             }
         }
         writer.flush();
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/dfa/report/ReportHTMLPrintVisitor.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/dfa/report/ReportHTMLPrintVisitor.java
index 682dbbc587..af06618833 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/dfa/report/ReportHTMLPrintVisitor.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/dfa/report/ReportHTMLPrintVisitor.java
@@ -131,8 +131,7 @@ public class ReportHTMLPrintVisitor extends ReportVisitor {
 
         vnode.getParent().addNumberOfViolation(1);
         RuleViolation vio = vnode.getRuleViolation();
-        classBuf.append("<tr>" + " <td>" + vio.getMethodName() + "</td>" + " <td>" + this.displayRuleViolation(vio)
-                + "</td>" + "</tr>");
+        classBuf.append("<tr>" + " <td>").append(vio.getMethodName()).append("</td>").append(" <td>").append(this.displayRuleViolation(vio)).append("</td>").append("</tr>");
     }
 
     private void renderPackage(PackageNode pnode) {
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/ParametricRuleViolation.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/ParametricRuleViolation.java
index 1e8e4c68f5..2936a05b78 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/ParametricRuleViolation.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/ParametricRuleViolation.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class ParametricRuleViolation<T extends Node> implements RuleViolation {
 
     protected String expandVariables(String message) {
 
-        if (message.indexOf("${") < 0) {
+        if (!message.contains("${")) {
             return message;
         }
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/BooleanProperty.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/BooleanProperty.java
index 0f3ef45b96..7614a2fa15 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/BooleanProperty.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/BooleanProperty.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public final class BooleanProperty extends AbstractSingleValueProperty<Boolean>
      */
     @Deprecated
     public BooleanProperty(String theName, String theDescription, String defaultBoolStr, float theUIOrder) {
-        this(theName, theDescription, Boolean.valueOf(defaultBoolStr), theUIOrder, false);
+        this(theName, theDescription, Boolean.parseBoolean(defaultBoolStr), theUIOrder, false);
     }
 
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/CodeClimateRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/CodeClimateRenderer.java
index 67a27d783a..c738fac851 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/CodeClimateRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/CodeClimateRenderer.java
@@ -145,27 +145,38 @@ public class CodeClimateRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
     }
 
     private <T> String getBody() {
-        String result = "## " + rule.getName() + "\\n\\n" + "Since: PMD " + rule.getSince() + "\\n\\n" + "Priority: "
-            + rule.getPriority() + "\\n\\n"
-            + "[Categories](https://github.com/codeclimate/platform/blob/master/spec/analyzers/SPEC.md#categories): "
-            + Arrays.toString(getCategories()).replaceAll("[\\[\\]]", "") + "\\n\\n"
-            + "[Remediation Points](https://github.com/codeclimate/platform/blob/master/spec/analyzers/SPEC.md#remediation-points): "
-            + getRemediationPoints() + "\\n\\n" + cleaned(rule.getDescription());
+        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
+        result.append("## ")
+                .append(rule.getName())
+                .append("\\n\\n")
+                .append("Since: PMD ")
+                .append(rule.getSince())
+                .append("\\n\\n")
+                .append("Priority: ")
+                .append(rule.getPriority())
+                .append("\\n\\n")
+                .append("[Categories](https://github.com/codeclimate/platform/blob/master/spec/analyzers/SPEC.md#categories): ")
+                .append(Arrays.toString(getCategories()).replaceAll("[\\[\\]]", ""))
+                .append("\\n\\n")
+                .append("[Remediation Points](https://github.com/codeclimate/platform/blob/master/spec/analyzers/SPEC.md#remediation-points): ")
+                .append(getRemediationPoints())
+                .append("\\n\\n")
+                .append(cleaned(rule.getDescription()));
 
         if (!rule.getExamples().isEmpty()) {
-            result += "\\n\\n### Example:\\n\\n";
+            result.append("\\n\\n### Example:\\n\\n");
 
             for (String snippet : rule.getExamples()) {
                 String exampleSnippet = snippet.replaceAll("\\n", "\\\\n");
                 exampleSnippet = exampleSnippet.replaceAll("\\t", "\\\\t");
-                result += "```java\\n" + exampleSnippet + "\\n```  ";
+                result.append("```java\\n").append(exampleSnippet).append("\\n```  ");
             }
         }
 
         if (!rule.getPropertyDescriptors().isEmpty()) {
-            result += "\\n\\n### [PMD properties](" + PMD_PROPERTIES_URL + ")\\n\\n";
-            result += "Name | Value | Description\\n";
-            result += "--- | --- | ---\\n";
+            result.append("\\n\\n### [PMD properties](").append(PMD_PROPERTIES_URL).append(")\\n\\n");
+            result.append("Name | Value | Description\\n");
+            result.append("--- | --- | ---\\n");
 
             for (PropertyDescriptor<?> property : rule.getPropertyDescriptors()) {
                 String propertyName = property.name().replaceAll("\\_", "\\\\_");
@@ -182,10 +193,10 @@ public class CodeClimateRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
                 }
                 propertyValue = propertyValue.replaceAll("(\n|\r\n|\r)", "\\\\n");
 
-                result += propertyName + " | " + propertyValue + " | " + property.description() + "\\n";
+                result.append(propertyName).append(" | ").append(propertyValue).append(" | ").append(property.description()).append("\\n");
             }
         }
-        return cleaned(result);
+        return cleaned(result.toString());
     }
 
     private String cleaned(String original) {
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
index 5be922ea56..5f37db9be2 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
@@ -128,12 +128,13 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
                 buf.append(" bgcolor=\"lightgrey\"");
             }
             colorize = !colorize;
-            buf.append("> " + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">" + violationCount + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td width=\"*%\">"
-                    + renderFileName(rv.getFilename(), rv.getBeginLine())
-                    + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\" width=\"5%\">" + Integer.toString(rv.getBeginLine()) + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("> ").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">").append(violationCount).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td width=\"*%\">")
+                    .append(renderFileName(rv.getFilename(), rv.getBeginLine()))
+                    .append("</td>")
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\" width=\"5%\">").append(rv.getBeginLine()).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
 
             String d = StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4(rv.getDescription());
 
@@ -141,8 +142,8 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
             if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(infoUrl)) {
                 d = "<a href=\"" + infoUrl + "\">" + d + "</a>";
             }
-            buf.append("<td width=\"*\">" + d + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("</tr>" + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td width=\"*\">").append(d).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("</tr>").append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
             violationCount++;
         }
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
         writer.write("<table align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"3\"><tr>" + PMD.EOL
                 + "<th>File</th><th>Problem</th></tr>" + PMD.EOL);
 
-        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(500);
+        StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(500);
         boolean colorize = true;
         for (Report.ProcessingError pe : errors) {
             buf.setLength(0);
@@ -182,10 +183,10 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
                 buf.append(" bgcolor=\"lightgrey\"");
             }
             colorize = !colorize;
-            buf.append("> " + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td>" + renderFileName(pe.getFile(), -1) + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td><pre>" + pe.getDetail() + "</pre></td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("</tr>" + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("> ").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td>").append(renderFileName(pe.getFile(), -1)).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td><pre>").append(pe.getDetail()).append("</pre></td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("</tr>").append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
         writer.write("</table>");
@@ -210,15 +211,14 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
                 buf.append(" bgcolor=\"lightgrey\"");
             }
             colorize = !colorize;
-            buf.append("> " + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("> ").append(PMD.EOL);
             RuleViolation rv = sv.getRuleViolation();
-            buf.append("<td align=\"left\">" + renderFileName(rv.getFilename(), rv.getBeginLine()) + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">" + rv.getBeginLine() + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">" + renderRuleName(rv.getRule()) + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">" + (sv.suppressedByNOPMD() ? "NOPMD" : "Annotation") + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">" + (sv.getUserMessage() == null ? "" : sv.getUserMessage()) + "</td>"
-                    + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("</tr>" + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"left\">").append(renderFileName(rv.getFilename(), rv.getBeginLine())).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">").append(rv.getBeginLine()).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">").append(renderRuleName(rv.getRule())).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">").append(sv.suppressedByNOPMD() ? "NOPMD" : "Annotation").append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td align=\"center\">").append(sv.getUserMessage() == null ? "" : sv.getUserMessage()).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("</tr>").append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
         writer.write("</table>");
@@ -243,10 +243,10 @@ public class HTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
                 buf.append(" bgcolor=\"lightgrey\"");
             }
             colorize = !colorize;
-            buf.append("> " + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td>" + renderRuleName(ce.rule()) + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("<td>" + ce.issue() + "</td>" + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append("</tr>" + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("> ").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td>").append(renderRuleName(ce.rule())).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("<td>").append(ce.issue()).append("</td>").append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append("</tr>").append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
         writer.write("</table>");
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/IDEAJRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/IDEAJRenderer.java
index 4147ef0404..0cc16dc8d9 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/IDEAJRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/IDEAJRenderer.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class IDEAJRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
         while (violations.hasNext()) {
             buf.setLength(0);
             RuleViolation rv = violations.next();
-            buf.append(rv.getDescription() + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(rv.getDescription()).append(PMD.EOL);
             buf.append(" at ").append(getFullyQualifiedClassName(rv.getFilename(), sourcePath)).append(".method(");
             buf.append(getSimpleFileName(rv.getFilename())).append(':').append(rv.getBeginLine()).append(')')
                     .append(PMD.EOL);
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextColorRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextColorRenderer.java
index bc2c95c706..c4a960c464 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextColorRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextColorRenderer.java
@@ -125,17 +125,41 @@ public class TextColorRenderer extends AbstractAccumulatingRenderer {
             String nextFile = determineFileName(rv.getFilename());
             if (!nextFile.equals(lastFile)) {
                 lastFile = nextFile;
-                buf.append(this.yellowBold + "*" + this.colorReset + " file: " + this.whiteBold
-                        + this.getRelativePath(lastFile) + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL);
+                buf.append(this.yellowBold)
+                        .append("*")
+                        .append(this.colorReset)
+                        .append(" file: ")
+                        .append(this.whiteBold)
+                        .append(this.getRelativePath(lastFile))
+                        .append(this.colorReset)
+                        .append(PMD.EOL);
             }
-            buf.append(
-                    this.green + "    src:  " + this.cyan + lastFile.substring(lastFile.lastIndexOf(File.separator) + 1)
-                            + this.colorReset + ":" + this.cyan + rv.getBeginLine()
-                            + (rv.getEndLine() == -1 ? "" : ":" + rv.getEndLine()) + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append(this.green + "    rule: " + this.colorReset + rv.getRule().getName() + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append(this.green + "    msg:  " + this.colorReset + rv.getDescription() + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append(this.green + "    code: " + this.colorReset + this.getLine(lastFile, rv.getBeginLine()) + PMD.EOL
-                    + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    src:  ")
+                    .append(this.cyan)
+                    .append(lastFile.substring(lastFile.lastIndexOf(File.separator) + 1))
+                    .append(this.colorReset).append(":")
+                    .append(this.cyan)
+                    .append(rv.getBeginLine())
+                    .append(rv.getEndLine() == -1 ? "" : ":" + rv.getEndLine())
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    rule: ")
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(rv.getRule().getName())
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    msg:  ")
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(rv.getDescription())
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    code: ")
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(this.getLine(lastFile, rv.getBeginLine()))
+                    .append(PMD.EOL)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
         writer.write(PMD.EOL + PMD.EOL);
@@ -155,11 +179,26 @@ public class TextColorRenderer extends AbstractAccumulatingRenderer {
             String nextFile = determineFileName(error.getFile());
             if (!nextFile.equals(lastFile)) {
                 lastFile = nextFile;
-                buf.append(this.redBold + "*" + this.colorReset + " file: " + this.whiteBold
-                        + this.getRelativePath(lastFile) + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL);
+                buf.append(this.redBold)
+                        .append("*")
+                        .append(this.colorReset)
+                        .append(" file: ")
+                        .append(this.whiteBold)
+                        .append(this.getRelativePath(lastFile))
+                        .append(this.colorReset)
+                        .append(PMD.EOL);
             }
-            buf.append(this.green + "    err:  " + this.cyan + error.getMsg() + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL)
-                .append(this.red).append(error.getDetail()).append(colorReset).append(PMD.EOL).append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    err:  ")
+                    .append(this.cyan)
+                    .append(error.getMsg())
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL)
+                    .append(this.red)
+                    .append(error.getDetail())
+                    .append(colorReset)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
 
@@ -167,9 +206,21 @@ public class TextColorRenderer extends AbstractAccumulatingRenderer {
             buf.setLength(0);
             numberOfErrors++;
             Report.ConfigurationError error = i.next();
-            buf.append(this.redBold + "*" + this.colorReset + " rule: " + this.whiteBold
-                    + error.rule().getName() + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL);
-            buf.append(this.green + "    err:  " + this.cyan + error.issue() + this.colorReset + PMD.EOL + PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.redBold)
+                    .append("*")
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(" rule: ")
+                    .append(this.whiteBold)
+                    .append(error.rule().getName())
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
+            buf.append(this.green)
+                    .append("    err:  ")
+                    .append(this.cyan)
+                    .append(error.issue())
+                    .append(this.colorReset)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL)
+                    .append(PMD.EOL);
             writer.write(buf.toString());
         }
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextPadRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextPadRenderer.java
index f4aeb0dbac..dcf599aa18 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextPadRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/TextPadRenderer.java
@@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ public class TextPadRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
 
     @Override
     public void renderFileViolations(Iterator<RuleViolation> violations) throws IOException {
-        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder();
         while (violations.hasNext()) {
             RuleViolation rv = violations.next();
             buf.setLength(0);
             // Filename
-            buf.append(determineFileName(rv.getFilename()) + "(");
+            buf.append(determineFileName(rv.getFilename())).append("(");
             // Line number
             buf.append(Integer.toString(rv.getBeginLine())).append(",  ");
             // Name of violated rule
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/VBHTMLRenderer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/VBHTMLRenderer.java
index 9b050cbdc7..1af81231dc 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/VBHTMLRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/VBHTMLRenderer.java
@@ -68,9 +68,8 @@ public class VBHTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
             }
 
             colorize = !colorize;
-            sb.append("<td width=\"50\" align=\"right\"><font class=body>" + rv.getBeginLine()
-                    + "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></td>");
-            sb.append("<td><font class=body>" + rv.getDescription() + "</font></td>");
+            sb.append("<td width=\"50\" align=\"right\"><font class=body>").append(rv.getBeginLine()).append("&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></td>");
+            sb.append("<td><font class=body>").append(rv.getDescription()).append("</font></td>");
             sb.append("</tr>");
             sb.append(lineSep);
             writer.write(sb.toString());
@@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ public class VBHTMLRenderer extends AbstractIncrementingRenderer {
 
     private String header() {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(600).append("<html><head><title>PMD</title></head>")
-                .append("<style type=\"text/css\">").append("<!--" + PMD.EOL)
+                .append("<style type=\"text/css\">").append("<!--").append(PMD.EOL)
                 .append("body { background-color: white; font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; color: black; }")
                 .append(PMD.EOL)
                 .append(".title { font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica,geneva; font-size: 12px; font-weight:bold; color: white; }")
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadata.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadata.java
index cd3b28e5f5..e89dd83ef1 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadata.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadata.java
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ public class DBMSMetadata {
 
     /**
      * {@link java.sql.Types} value representing the type returned by
-     * {@link callableStatement}
+     * {@link #callableStatement}
      *
      * <b>Currently only java.sql.Types.String and java.sql.Types.Clob are
      * supported</b>
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/SourceObject.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/SourceObject.java
index 5f73974de8..3c9135fec9 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/SourceObject.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/SourceObject.java
@@ -131,21 +131,21 @@ public class SourceObject {
         LOG.entering(CLASS_NAME, "getSuffixFromType", this);
         if (null == type || type.isEmpty()) {
             return "";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("JAVA") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("JAVA")) {
             return ".java";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("TRIGGER") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("TRIGGER")) {
             return ".trg";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("FUNCTION") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("FUNCTION")) {
             return ".fnc";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("PROCEDURE") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("PROCEDURE")) {
             return ".prc";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("PACKAGE_BODY") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("PACKAGE_BODY")) {
             return ".pkb";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("PACKAGE") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("PACKAGE")) {
             return ".pks";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("TYPE_BODY") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("TYPE_BODY")) {
             return ".tpb";
-        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).indexOf("TYPE") >= 0) {
+        } else if (type.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).contains("TYPE")) {
             return ".tps";
         } else {
             return "";
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/DFAPanel.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/DFAPanel.java
index 2e7dec8bf9..05be24140b 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/DFAPanel.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/DFAPanel.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class DFAPanel extends JComponent implements ListSelectionListener {
                 return "";
             }
 
-            StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
             sb.append(kids.get(0).getIndex());
 
             for (int j = 1; j < node.getChildren().size(); j++) {
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/Designer.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/Designer.java
index d54493a68e..a12cc8000a 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/Designer.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/designer/Designer.java
@@ -710,7 +710,7 @@ public class Designer implements ClipboardOwner {
             String text;
             if (value instanceof Node) {
                 Node node = (Node) value;
-                StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+                StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                 String name = node.getClass().getName().substring(node.getClass().getName().lastIndexOf('.') + 1);
                 if (Proxy.isProxyClass(value.getClass())) {
                     name = value.toString();
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/viewer/gui/menu/SimpleNodeSubMenu.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/viewer/gui/menu/SimpleNodeSubMenu.java
index d8f2d32689..9654312292 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/viewer/gui/menu/SimpleNodeSubMenu.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/viewer/gui/menu/SimpleNodeSubMenu.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public class SimpleNodeSubMenu extends JMenu {
     }
 
     private void init() {
-        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(200);
+        StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(200);
         for (Node temp = node; temp != null; temp = temp.getParent()) {
             buf.insert(0, "/" + temp.toString());
         }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest.java
index 6acaf22971..7dfb6e1f09 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest.java
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.Reader;
-import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.junit.Assert;
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.ResourceLoader;
 
 public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
-    private static final Charset ISO_8859_1 = Charset.forName("ISO-8859-1");
-    private static final Charset UTF_8 = Charset.forName("UTF-8");
 
     @Test
     public void testCorrectOldReference() throws Exception {
@@ -48,7 +46,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
         rsfc.addFilterRuleMoved("dummy", "notexisting", "basic", "OldDummyBasicMockRule");
         rsfc.addFilterRuleRenamed("dummy", "basic", "OldDummyBasicMockRule", "NewNameForDummyBasicMockRule");
 
-        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(ISO_8859_1));
+        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1));
         Reader filtered = rsfc.filterRuleSetFile(stream);
         String out = IOUtils.toString(filtered);
 
@@ -90,7 +88,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
         RuleSetFactoryCompatibility rsfc = new RuleSetFactoryCompatibility();
         rsfc.addFilterRuleMovedAndRenamed("dummy", "oldbasic", "OldDummyBasicMockRule", "basic", "NewNameForDummyBasicMockRule");
 
-        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(ISO_8859_1));
+        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1));
         Reader filtered = rsfc.filterRuleSetFile(stream);
         String out = IOUtils.toString(filtered);
 
@@ -112,7 +110,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
                 + " <rule ref=\"rulesets/dummy/notexisting.xml/DummyBasicMockRule\" />\n"
                 + " <rule ref=\"rulesets/dummy/basic.xml/DeletedRule\" />\n"
                 + " <rule ref=\"rulesets/dummy/basic.xml/OldNameOfBasicMockRule\" />\n" + "</ruleset>\n";
-        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(in.getBytes(ISO_8859_1));
+        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(in.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1));
         Reader filtered = rsfc.filterRuleSetFile(stream);
         String out = IOUtils.toString(filtered);
 
@@ -136,7 +134,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
                 + "    xsi:schemaLocation=\"http://pmd.sourceforge.net/ruleset/2.0.0 https://pmd.sourceforge.io/ruleset_2_0_0.xsd\">\n"
                 + "  <description>Test</description>\n" + "\n" + " <rule ref=\"rulesets/dummy/basic.xml\">\n"
                 + "   <exclude name=\"AnotherOldNameOfBasicMockRule\"/>\n" + " </rule>\n" + "</ruleset>\n";
-        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(in.getBytes(ISO_8859_1));
+        InputStream stream = new ByteArrayInputStream(in.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1));
         Reader filtered = rsfc.filterRuleSetFile(stream);
         String out = IOUtils.toString(filtered);
 
@@ -150,10 +148,10 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
         String testString;
 
         testString = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"ISO-8859-1\"?><x></x>";
-        Assert.assertEquals("ISO-8859-1", rsfc.determineEncoding(testString.getBytes(ISO_8859_1)));
+        Assert.assertEquals("ISO-8859-1", rsfc.determineEncoding(testString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1)));
 
         testString = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><x></x>";
-        Assert.assertEquals("UTF-8", rsfc.determineEncoding(testString.getBytes(ISO_8859_1)));
+        Assert.assertEquals("UTF-8", rsfc.determineEncoding(testString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1)));
     }
 
     private RuleSet createRulesetFromString(final String ruleset, RuleSetFactory factory)
@@ -161,7 +159,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryCompatibilityTest {
         return factory.createRuleSet(new RuleSetReferenceId(null) {
             @Override
             public InputStream getInputStream(ResourceLoader resourceLoader) throws RuleSetNotFoundException {
-                return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(UTF_8));
+                return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleset.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             }
         });
     }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryTest.java
index f5b26ec49f..08c983529f 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactoryTest.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -1269,11 +1269,7 @@ public class RuleSetFactoryTest {
         return new RuleSetReferenceId(null) {
             @Override
             public InputStream getInputStream(ResourceLoader resourceLoader) throws RuleSetNotFoundException {
-                try {
-                    return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleSetXml.getBytes("UTF-8"));
-                } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-                    return null;
-                }
+                return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleSetXml.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             }
         };
     }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/FileReporterTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/FileReporterTest.java
index 97c7aade2b..ca26c0d467 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/FileReporterTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cpd/FileReporterTest.java
@@ -54,10 +54,8 @@ public class FileReporterTest {
     }
 
     private String readFile(File file) throws IOException {
-        BufferedReader reader = null;
-        try {
-            reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
-            StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
+        try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file))) {
+            StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
             String line = reader.readLine();
             while (line != null) {
                 buffer.append(line);
@@ -67,10 +65,6 @@ public class FileReporterTest {
                 }
             }
             return buffer.toString();
-        } finally {
-            if (reader != null) {
-                reader.close();
-            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/processor/MultiThreadProcessorTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/processor/MultiThreadProcessorTest.java
index 3aa711568a..837cbf2ca6 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/processor/MultiThreadProcessorTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/processor/MultiThreadProcessorTest.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.processor;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ public class MultiThreadProcessorTest {
 
         @Override
         public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {
-            return new ByteArrayInputStream(data.getBytes("UTF-8"));
+            return new ByteArrayInputStream(data.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadataTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadataTest.java
index 6a644e470c..bf12ee5d3c 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadataTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/util/database/DBMSMetadataTest.java
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ public class DBMSMetadataTest {
                 "testURI=%s,\ngetSchemasList()=%s\n,getSourceCodeTypesList()=%s\n,getSourceCodeNmesList()=%s\n",
                 testURI, testURI.getSchemasList(), testURI.getSourceCodeTypesList(), testURI.getSourceCodeNamesList());
 
-        System.out.printf("sourceObjectList ...\n");
+        System.out.print("sourceObjectList ...\n");
         for (SourceObject sourceObject : sourceObjectList) {
             System.out.printf("sourceObject=%s\n", sourceObject);
             System.out.printf("sourceCode=[%s]\n", getStringFromReader(instance.getSourceCode(sourceObject)));
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java
index d31051fd04..27a8b325d6 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ public class ZipFileExtractor {
      * @throws Exception if any error happens during extraction
      */
     public static void extractZipFile(Path zipPath, Path tempDir) throws Exception {
-        ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(zipPath.toFile());
-        try {
+        try (ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(zipPath.toFile())) {
             Enumeration<ZipArchiveEntry> entries = zip.getEntries();
             while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
                 ZipArchiveEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
@@ -57,8 +56,6 @@ public class ZipFileExtractor {
                     }
                 }
             }
-        } finally {
-            zip.close();
         }
     }
 
@@ -70,15 +67,12 @@ public class ZipFileExtractor {
      */
     public static List<String> readZipFile(Path zipPath) throws Exception {
         List<String> result = new ArrayList<>();
-        ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(zipPath.toFile());
-        try {
+        try (ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(zipPath.toFile())) {
             Enumeration<ZipArchiveEntry> entries = zip.getEntries();
             while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
                 ZipArchiveEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
                 result.add(entry.getName());
             }
-        } finally {
-            zip.close();
         }
         return result;
     }
diff --git a/pmd-doc/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/docs/DeadLinksChecker.java b/pmd-doc/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/docs/DeadLinksChecker.java
index 66d8c45a7e..f6c0ae2383 100644
--- a/pmd-doc/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/docs/DeadLinksChecker.java
+++ b/pmd-doc/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/docs/DeadLinksChecker.java
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ public class DeadLinksChecker {
 
     private String fileToString(Path mdFile) {
         try (InputStream inputStream = Files.newInputStream(mdFile)) {
-            return IOUtils.toString(inputStream, Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
+            return IOUtils.toString(inputStream, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
         } catch (IOException ex) {
             throw new RuntimeException("error reading " + mdFile, ex);
         }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/ast/Comment.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/ast/Comment.java
index da668e6d2f..44848174dd 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/ast/Comment.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/ast/Comment.java
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ public abstract class Comment extends AbstractNode {
      * of the comment as well as the start marker ({@code //}, {@code /*} or {@code /**}
      * and the end markers (<code>&#x2a;/</code>).
      *
-     * @param comment the raw comment
      * @return List of lines of the comments
      */
     private List<String> multiLinesIn() {
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/multifile/ClassStats.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/multifile/ClassStats.java
index b7aba0d141..589dcdcf49 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/multifile/ClassStats.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/multifile/ClassStats.java
@@ -10,18 +10,18 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.ast.JavaQualifiedName;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.multifile.signature.JavaFieldSigMask;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.multifile.signature.JavaFieldSignature;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.multifile.signature.JavaOperationSigMask;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.multifile.signature.JavaOperationSignature;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.qname.JavaTypeQualifiedName;
 
 /**
  * Statistics about a class, enum, interface, or annotation. Stores information about the contained members and their
  * signatures, and memoizes the results of the class metrics computed on the corresponding node.
  *
  * <p>This class does not provide methods to operate directly on its nested classes, but only on itself. To operate on a
- * nested class, retrieve the correct ClassStats with {@link PackageStats#getClassStats(JavaQualifiedName, boolean)}
+ * nested class, retrieve the correct ClassStats with {@link PackageStats#getClassStats(JavaTypeQualifiedName, boolean)}
  * then use the methods of ClassStats. Note that at this level, entities of the data structure do not manipulate
  * QualifiedNames anymore, only Strings.
  *
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/AbstractPoorMethodCall.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/AbstractPoorMethodCall.java
index 32321dc766..b869265b19 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/AbstractPoorMethodCall.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/AbstractPoorMethodCall.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractPoorMethodCall extends AbstractJavaRule {
         String[] methodNames = methodNames();
 
         for (String element : methodNames) {
-            if (methodCall.indexOf(element) != -1) {
+            if (methodCall.contains(element)) {
                 return true;
             }
         }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/bestpractices/JUnitTestsShouldIncludeAssertRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/bestpractices/JUnitTestsShouldIncludeAssertRule.java
index aac15c9d87..52807c1119 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/bestpractices/JUnitTestsShouldIncludeAssertRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/bestpractices/JUnitTestsShouldIncludeAssertRule.java
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ public class JUnitTestsShouldIncludeAssertRule extends AbstractJUnitRule {
                 Node name = pe.getFirstDescendantOfType(ASTName.class);
                 if (name != null) {
                     String img = name.getImage();
-                    if (img.indexOf(".") == -1) {
+                    if (!img.contains(".")) {
                         return false;
                     }
                     String[] tokens = img.split("\\.");
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/GenericClassCounterRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/GenericClassCounterRule.java
index 44849f2132..5ed182a38f 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/GenericClassCounterRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/GenericClassCounterRule.java
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ public class GenericClassCounterRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
         this.operand = getProperty(OPERAND_DESCRIPTOR);
         this.typesMatch = RegexHelper.compilePatternsFromList(getProperty(TYPE_MATCH_DESCRIPTOR));
         String thresholdAsString = getProperty(THRESHOLD_DESCRIPTOR);
-        this.threshold = Integer.valueOf(thresholdAsString);
+        this.threshold = Integer.parseInt(thresholdAsString);
         // Initializing list of match
         this.matches = new ArrayList<>();
 
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/PositionalIteratorRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/PositionalIteratorRule.java
index 945f95f8b9..c5b4a4b461 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/PositionalIteratorRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/PositionalIteratorRule.java
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ public class PositionalIteratorRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
     public Object visit(ASTWhileStatement node, Object data) {
         if (hasNameAsChild(node.getChild(0))) {
             String exprName = getName(node.getChild(0));
-            if (exprName.indexOf(".hasNext") != -1 && node.getNumChildren() > 1) {
+            if (exprName.contains(".hasNext") && node.getNumChildren() > 1) {
 
                 Node loopBody = node.getChild(1);
                 List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
                 collectNames(getVariableName(exprName), names, loopBody);
                 int nextCount = 0;
                 for (String name : names) {
-                    if (name.indexOf(".next") != -1) {
+                    if (name.contains(".next")) {
                         nextCount++;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SignatureDeclareThrowsExceptionRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SignatureDeclareThrowsExceptionRule.java
index 489fb4a8c6..ad4a01a476 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SignatureDeclareThrowsExceptionRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SignatureDeclareThrowsExceptionRule.java
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ public class SignatureDeclareThrowsExceptionRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
 
     @Override
     public Object visit(ASTImportDeclaration node, Object o) {
-        if (node.getImportedName().indexOf("junit") != -1) {
+        if (node.getImportedName().contains("junit")) {
             junitImported = true;
         }
         return super.visit(node, o);
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule.java
index f73c4f96a8..74f7591cd0 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule.java
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ public class SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
      * Checks, whether there is a statement after the given if statement, and if
      * so, whether this is just a return boolean statement.
      *
-     * @param node
+     * @param ifNode
      *            the if statement
      * @return
      */
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public class SimplifyBooleanReturnsRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
      * Checks whether the given ifstatement just returns a boolean in the if
      * clause.
      *
-     * @param node
+     * @param ifNode
      *            the if statement
      * @return
      */
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientEmptyStringCheckRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientEmptyStringCheckRule.java
index f7ae7eeb75..63ad694116 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientEmptyStringCheckRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientEmptyStringCheckRule.java
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public class InefficientEmptyStringCheckRule extends AbstractInefficientZeroChec
     @Override
     public boolean isTargetMethod(JavaNameOccurrence occ) {
         if (occ.getNameForWhichThisIsAQualifier() != null
-                && occ.getNameForWhichThisIsAQualifier().getImage().indexOf("trim") != -1) {
+                && occ.getNameForWhichThisIsAQualifier().getImage().contains("trim")) {
             Node pExpression = occ.getLocation().getParent().getParent();
             if (pExpression.getNumChildren() > 2 && "length".equals(pExpression.getChild(2).getImage())) {
                 return true;
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientStringBufferingRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientStringBufferingRule.java
index cf832d2882..9cf762af10 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientStringBufferingRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/InefficientStringBufferingRule.java
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ public class InefficientStringBufferingRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
             return false;
         }
         ASTName n = s.getFirstDescendantOfType(ASTName.class);
-        if (n == null || n.getImage().indexOf(methodName) == -1
+        if (n == null || !n.getImage().contains(methodName)
                 || !(n.getNameDeclaration() instanceof VariableNameDeclaration)) {
             return false;
         }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/errorprone.xml b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/errorprone.xml
index 65979fcc61..94875fb765 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/errorprone.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/errorprone.xml
@@ -3052,8 +3052,12 @@ StringBuilder sb4 = new StringBuilder("c");
           class="net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.XPathRule"
           externalInfoUrl="${pmd.website.baseurl}/pmd_rules_java_errorprone.html#suspiciousequalsmethodname">
         <description>
-The method name and parameter number are suspiciously close to equals(Object), which can denote an
-intention to override the equals(Object) method.
+The method name and parameter number are suspiciously close to `Object.equals`, which can denote an
+intention to override it. However, the method does not override `Object.equals`, but overloads it instead.
+Overloading `Object.equals` method is confusing for other programmers, error-prone and hard to maintain,
+especially when using inheritance, because `@Override` annotations used in subclasses can provide a false
+sense of security. For more information on `Object.equals` method, see Effective Java, 3rd Edition,
+Item 10: Obey the general contract when overriding equals.
         </description>
         <priority>2</priority>
         <properties>
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
index a4c4dffc31..b9c61b80b5 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
@@ -698,8 +698,9 @@ public class C {
           class="net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.XPathRule"
           externalInfoUrl="${pmd.website.baseurl}/pmd_rules_java_performance.html#simplifystartswith">
         <description>
-Since it passes in a literal of length 1, calls to (string).startsWith can be rewritten using (string).charAt(0)
-at the expense of some readability.
+Calls to `string.startsWith("x")` with a string literal of length 1 can be rewritten using `string.charAt(0)`,
+at the expense of some readability. To prevent `IndexOutOfBoundsException` being thrown by the `charAt` method,
+ensure that the string is not empty by making an additional check first.
         </description>
         <priority>3</priority>
         <properties>
@@ -730,7 +731,7 @@ public class Foo {
     }
 
     boolean fasterCheckIt(String x) {
-        return x.charAt(0) == 'a';  // faster approach
+        return !x.isEmpty() && x.charAt(0) == 'a';  // faster approach
     }
 }
 ]]>
diff --git a/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/symboltable/ClassScope.java b/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/symboltable/ClassScope.java
index 07f6f92533..c93c0d0386 100644
--- a/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/symboltable/ClassScope.java
+++ b/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/symboltable/ClassScope.java
@@ -188,25 +188,25 @@ public class ClassScope extends AbstractScope {
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        String res = "ClassScope (" + className + "): ";
+        StringBuilder res = new StringBuilder("ClassScope (").append(className).append("): ");
         Map<ClassNameDeclaration, List<NameOccurrence>> classNames = getClassDeclarations();
         Map<MethodNameDeclaration, List<NameOccurrence>> methodNames = getMethodDeclarations();
         Map<VariableNameDeclaration, List<NameOccurrence>> variableNames = getVariableDeclarations();
         if (!classNames.isEmpty()) {
-            res += "(" + classNames.keySet() + ")";
+            res.append('(').append(classNames.keySet()).append(')');
         }
         if (!methodNames.isEmpty()) {
             for (MethodNameDeclaration mnd : methodNames.keySet()) {
-                res += mnd.toString();
+                res.append(mnd.toString());
                 int usages = methodNames.get(mnd).size();
-                res += "(begins at line " + mnd.getNode().getBeginLine() + ", " + usages + " usages)";
-                res += ",";
+                res.append("(begins at line ").append(mnd.getNode().getBeginLine()).append(", ").append(usages).append(" usages)");
+                res.append(',');
             }
         }
         if (!variableNames.isEmpty()) {
-            res += "(" + variableNames.keySet() + ")";
+            res.append('(').append(variableNames.keySet()).append(')');
         }
-        return res;
+        return res.toString();
     }
 
     private String clipClassName(String s) {
diff --git a/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest.java b/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest.java
index 164e0590a3..bfa7f0a765 100644
--- a/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest.java
+++ b/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest {
         int invalidClassName = 0;
         int invalidRegexSuppress = 0;
         int invalidXPathSuppress = 0;
-        String messages = "";
+        StringBuilder messages = new StringBuilder();
         List<String> ruleSetFileNames = getRuleSetFileNames();
         for (String fileName : ruleSetFileNames) {
             RuleSet ruleSet = loadRuleSetByFileName(fileName);
@@ -123,13 +123,22 @@ public abstract class AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest {
                 // Is since missing ?
                 if (rule.getSince() == null) {
                     invalidSinceAttributes++;
-                    messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName() + " is missing 'since' attribute" + PMD.EOL;
+                    messages.append("Rule ")
+                            .append(fileName)
+                            .append("/")
+                            .append(rule.getName())
+                            .append(" is missing 'since' attribute")
+                            .append(PMD.EOL);
                 }
                 // Is URL valid ?
                 if (rule.getExternalInfoUrl() == null || "".equalsIgnoreCase(rule.getExternalInfoUrl())) {
                     invalidExternalInfoURL++;
-                    messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName() + " is missing 'externalInfoURL' attribute"
-                            + PMD.EOL;
+                    messages.append("Rule ")
+                            .append(fileName)
+                            .append("/")
+                            .append(rule.getName())
+                            .append(" is missing 'externalInfoURL' attribute")
+                            .append(PMD.EOL);
                 } else {
                     String expectedExternalInfoURL = "https?://pmd.(sourceforge.net|github.io)/.+/pmd_rules_"
                             + language.getTerseName() + "_"
@@ -139,9 +148,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest {
                     if (rule.getExternalInfoUrl() == null
                             || !rule.getExternalInfoUrl().matches(expectedExternalInfoURL)) {
                         invalidExternalInfoURL++;
-                        messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName()
-                                + " seems to have an invalid 'externalInfoURL' value (" + rule.getExternalInfoUrl()
-                                + "), it should be:" + expectedExternalInfoURL + PMD.EOL;
+                        messages.append("Rule ")
+                                .append(fileName)
+                                .append("/")
+                                .append(rule.getName())
+                                .append(" seems to have an invalid 'externalInfoURL' value (")
+                                .append(rule.getExternalInfoUrl())
+                                .append("), it should be:")
+                                .append(expectedExternalInfoURL)
+                                .append(PMD.EOL);
                     }
                 }
                 // Proper class name/packaging?
@@ -150,22 +165,32 @@ public abstract class AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest {
                 if (!rule.getRuleClass().equals(expectedClassName)
                         && !validXPathClassNames.contains(rule.getRuleClass())) {
                     invalidClassName++;
-                    messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName() + " seems to have an invalid 'class' value ("
-                            + rule.getRuleClass() + "), it should be:" + expectedClassName + PMD.EOL;
+                    messages.append("Rule ")
+                            .append(fileName)
+                            .append("/")
+                            .append(rule.getName())
+                            .append(" seems to have an invalid 'class' value (")
+                            .append(rule.getRuleClass())
+                            .append("), it should be:")
+                            .append(expectedClassName)
+                            .append(PMD.EOL);
                 }
                 // Should not have violation suppress regex property
                 if (rule.getProperty(Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_REGEX_DESCRIPTOR) != null) {
                     invalidRegexSuppress++;
-                    messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName() + " should not have '"
-                            + Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_REGEX_DESCRIPTOR.name()
-                            + "', this is intended for end user customization only." + PMD.EOL;
+                    messages.append("Rule ")
+                            .append(fileName)
+                            .append("/")
+                            .append(rule.getName())
+                            .append(" should not have '")
+                            .append(Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_REGEX_DESCRIPTOR.name())
+                            .append("', this is intended for end user customization only.")
+                            .append(PMD.EOL);
                 }
                 // Should not have violation suppress xpath property
                 if (rule.getProperty(Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_XPATH_DESCRIPTOR) != null) {
                     invalidXPathSuppress++;
-                    messages += "Rule " + fileName + "/" + rule.getName() + " should not have '"
-                            + Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_XPATH_DESCRIPTOR.name()
-                            + "', this is intended for end user customization only." + PMD.EOL;
+                    messages.append("Rule ").append(fileName).append("/").append(rule.getName()).append(" should not have '").append(Rule.VIOLATION_SUPPRESS_XPATH_DESCRIPTOR.name()).append("', this is intended for end user customization only.").append(PMD.EOL);
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -483,11 +508,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractRuleSetFactoryTest {
         return new RuleSetReferenceId(null) {
             @Override
             public InputStream getInputStream(ResourceLoader resourceLoader) throws RuleSetNotFoundException {
-                try {
-                    return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleSetXml.getBytes("UTF-8"));
-                } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-                    return null;
-                }
+                return new ByteArrayInputStream(ruleSetXml.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             }
         };
     }
diff --git a/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/testframework/RuleTst.java b/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/testframework/RuleTst.java
index 1c9529b0e5..2b0d6ef46a 100644
--- a/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/testframework/RuleTst.java
+++ b/pmd-test/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/testframework/RuleTst.java
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ public abstract class RuleTst {
     }
 
     private static String parseTextNode(Node exampleNode) {
-        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
         for (int i = 0; i < exampleNode.getChildNodes().getLength(); i++) {
             Node node = exampleNode.getChildNodes().item(i);
             if (node.getNodeType() == Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE || node.getNodeType() == Node.TEXT_NODE) {
diff --git a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TemplateParseException.java b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TemplateParseException.java
index 1913c84cee..d549c50cde 100644
--- a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TemplateParseException.java
+++ b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TemplateParseException.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ public class TemplateParseException extends ParseException {
 
         int maxSize = 0;
 
-        final StringBuffer expected = new StringBuffer();
+        final StringBuilder expected = new StringBuilder();
 
         for (int i = 0; i < expectedTokenSequences.length; i++) {
             if (maxSize < expectedTokenSequences[i].length) {
diff --git a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TokenMgrError.java b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TokenMgrError.java
index 898ad8dfec..c4a7ca67d0 100644
--- a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TokenMgrError.java
+++ b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/ast/TokenMgrError.java
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ public class TokenMgrError extends RuntimeException {
      * equivalents in the given string
      */
     protected static final String addEscapes(final String str) {
-        final StringBuffer retval = new StringBuffer();
+        final StringBuilder retval = new StringBuilder();
         char ch;
         for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) {
             switch (str.charAt(i)) {
diff --git a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/rule/design/NoInlineJavaScriptRule.java b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/rule/design/NoInlineJavaScriptRule.java
index b52831e8c4..37b84db61b 100644
--- a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/rule/design/NoInlineJavaScriptRule.java
+++ b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/rule/design/NoInlineJavaScriptRule.java
@@ -11,14 +11,15 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.vm.ast.ASTText;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.vm.rule.AbstractVmRule;
 
 public class NoInlineJavaScriptRule extends AbstractVmRule {
+    private static final Pattern SCRIPT_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("<script\\s[^>]*>", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+    private static final Pattern SRC_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("\\ssrc\\s*=", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+
     @Override
     public Object visit(final ASTText node, final Object data) {
-        final Pattern scriptPattern = Pattern.compile("<script\\s[^>]*>", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
-        final Pattern srcPattern = Pattern.compile("\\ssrc\\s*=", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
-        final Matcher matcher = scriptPattern.matcher(node.literal());
+        final Matcher matcher = SCRIPT_PATTERN.matcher(node.literal());
         while (matcher.find()) {
             final String currentMatch = matcher.group();
-            if (!srcPattern.matcher(currentMatch).find()) {
+            if (!SRC_PATTERN.matcher(currentMatch).find()) {
                 addViolation(data, node);
             }
         }