diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignmentRuleTest.java b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignmentRuleTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..814bf85e5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignmentRuleTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package test.net.sourceforge.pmd.rules;
+
+import test.net.sourceforge.pmd.testframework.SimpleAggregatorTst;
+import test.net.sourceforge.pmd.testframework.TestDescriptor;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.Rule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.RuleSetNotFoundException;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD;
+
+public class UselessAssignmentRuleTest extends SimpleAggregatorTst {
+
+    private Rule rule;
+
+    public void setUp() throws RuleSetNotFoundException {
+        rule = findRule("rulesets/scratchpad.xml", "UselessAssignment");
+    }
+
+    public void testAll() {
+       runTests(new TestDescriptor[] {
+               //new TestDescriptor(TEST1, "useless assignment", 1, rule),
+       });
+    }
+
+
+    private static final String TEST1 =
+    "public class Bar {" + PMD.EOL +
+    " void foo(){" + PMD.EOL +
+    "  int x = 2; " + PMD.EOL +
+    "  foo(x); " + PMD.EOL +
+    "  x = 5; " + PMD.EOL +
+    " }" + PMD.EOL +
+    "}";
+
+}
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignment.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignment.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1b9f3017c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/UselessAssignment.java
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.rules;
+
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.AbstractRule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.RuleContext;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.Report;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.RuleViolation;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.dfa.IDataFlowNode;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.dfa.DataFlowNode;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.dfa.variableaccess.VariableAccess;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.dfa.pathfinder.DAAPathFinder;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.dfa.pathfinder.Executable;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTCompilationUnit;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTMethodDeclaration;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.SimpleNode;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Hashtable;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+
+public class UselessAssignment extends AbstractRule implements Executable  {
+
+    private RuleContext rc;
+    private SimpleNode tmp;
+
+    public Object visit(ASTMethodDeclaration node, Object data) {
+        this.rc = (RuleContext) data;
+        this.tmp = node;
+
+/*
+        IDataFlowNode n1 = node.getDataFlowNode();
+        List f = n1.getFlow();
+        for (Iterator i = f.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
+            DataFlowNode dfan = (DataFlowNode)i.next();
+            System.out.println(dfan);
+            List va = dfan.getVariableAccess();
+            for (Iterator j = va.iterator(); j.hasNext();) {
+                VariableAccess o = (VariableAccess)j.next();
+                System.out.println(o);
+            }
+        }
+*/
+
+
+        DAAPathFinder a = new DAAPathFinder((IDataFlowNode) node.getDataFlowNode().getFlow().get(0), this);
+        a.run();
+
+        //super.visit(node, data);
+        return data;
+    }
+
+    public void execute(List path) {
+        Hashtable hash = new Hashtable();
+        System.out.println("path size is " + path.size());
+        for (int i = 0; i < path.size(); i++) {
+            System.out.println("i = " + i);
+            IDataFlowNode inode = (IDataFlowNode) path.get(i);
+            if (inode.getVariableAccess() != null) {
+                for (int j = 0; j < inode.getVariableAccess().size(); j++) {
+                    System.out.println("j = " + j);
+                    VariableAccess va = (VariableAccess) inode.getVariableAccess().get(j);
+
+                    Object o = hash.get(va.getVariableName());
+                    if (o != null) {
+                        List array = (List) o;
+                        int last = ((Integer) array.get(0)).intValue();
+                        // TODO - at some point investigate and possibly reintroduce this line2 thing
+                        //int line2 = ((Integer) array.get(1)).intValue();
+
+                        // DD - ??
+                        if (va.accessTypeMatches(last) && va.isDefinition()) {
+                            Report rpt = rc.getReport();
+                            RuleViolation rv = createRuleViolation(rc, tmp, va.getVariableName(), "DD");
+                            //rpt.addRuleViolation(rv);
+                        }
+                        // UR - ??
+                        else if (last == VariableAccess.UNDEFINITION && va.isReference()) {
+                            //this.rc.getReport().addRuleViolation(createRuleViolation(rc, inode.getSimpleNode(), va.getVariableName(), "UR"));
+                        }
+                        // DU - variable is defined and then goes out of scope
+                        // i.e., unused parameter
+                        else if (last == VariableAccess.DEFINITION && va.isUndefinition()) {
+                            //if (inode.getSimpleNode() != null) {
+                                this.rc.getReport().addRuleViolation(createRuleViolation(rc, tmp, va.getVariableName(), "DU"));
+                            //}
+                        }
+                    }
+                    List array = new ArrayList();
+                    array.add(new Integer(va.getAccessType()));
+                    array.add(new Integer(inode.getLine()));
+                    hash.put(va.getVariableName(), array);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}