Using Origin Analysis to Detect Merging and Splitting of Source Code Entities

Using Origin Analysis to Detect Merging and Splitting of Source Code Entities (2005)

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by Michael W. Godfrey , Lijie Zou

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BibTeX

@MISC{Godfrey05usingorigin,
    author = {Michael W. Godfrey and Lijie Zou},
    title = {Using Origin Analysis to Detect Merging and Splitting of Source Code Entities},
    year = {2005}
}

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Abstract

Merging and splitting source code entities is a common activity during the lifespan of a software system; as developers rethink the essential structure of a system or plan for a new evolutionary direction, so must they be able to reorganize the design artifacts at various abstraction levels as seems appropriate. However, while the raw effects of such changes may be plainly evident in the new artifacts, the original context of the design changes is often lost. That is, it may be obvious which characters of which files have changed, but it may not be obvious where or why moving, renaming, merging, and/or splitting of design elements has occurred. In this paper, we discuss how we have extended origin analysis [1], [2] to aid in the detection of merging and splitting of files and functions in procedural code; in particular, we show how reasoning about how call relationships have changed can aid a developer in locating where merges and splits have occurred, thereby helping to recover some information about the context of the design change. We also describe a case study of these techniques (as implemented in the Beagle tool) using the PostgreSQL database system as the subject.

Keyphrases

source code entity origin analysis design change design element essential structure postgresql database system beagle tool case study common activity call relationship new evolutionary direction new artifact software system various abstraction level procedural code original context raw effect