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Understanding source code evolution using abstract syntax tree matching

Authors:

Iulian Neamtiu,

Jeffrey S. Foster,

Michael HicksAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, Volume 30, Issue 4

Pages 1 - 5

https://doi.org/10.1145/1082983.1083143

Published: 17 May 2005 Publication History

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Abstract

Mining software repositories at the source code level can provide a greater understanding of how software evolves. We present a tool for quickly comparing the source code of different versions of a C program. The approach is based on partial abstract syntax tree matching, and can track simple changes to global variables, types and functions. These changes can characterize aspects of software evolution useful for answering higher level questions. In particular, we consider how they could be used to inform the design of a dynamic software updating system. We report results based on measurements of various versions of popular open source programs. including BIND, OpenSSH, Apache, Vsftpd and the Linux kernel.

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Güthing LBittner PSchaefer IThüm T(2024)Explaining Edits to Variability Annotations in Evolving Software Product LinesProceedings of the 18th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems10.1145/3634713.3634725(93-102)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2024
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Wen XGao CYe JLi YTian ZJia YWang X(2024)Meta-Path Based Attentional Graph Learning Model for Vulnerability DetectionIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2023.334026750:3(360-375)Online publication date: Mar-2024
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Zhang CXiang JHao RHu WCotroneo DNatella RPietrantuono R(2024)SGT: Aging-related bug prediction via semantic feature learning based on graph-transformerJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112156217(112156)Online publication date: Nov-2024
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Index Terms

Understanding source code evolution using abstract syntax tree matching
1. Theory of computation
  1. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program reasoning
      1. Program analysis
    2. Program semantics

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes

ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes Volume 30, Issue 4

July 2005

1514 pages

ISSN:0163-5948

DOI:10.1145/1082983

Issue’s Table of Contents

MSR '05: Proceedings of the 2005 international workshop on Mining software repositories
May 2005
109 pages
ISBN:1595931236
DOI:10.1145/1083142

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 17 May 2005

Published in SIGSOFT Volume 30, Issue 4

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Güthing LBittner PSchaefer IThüm T(2024)Explaining Edits to Variability Annotations in Evolving Software Product LinesProceedings of the 18th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems10.1145/3634713.3634725(93-102)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2024
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Wen XGao CYe JLi YTian ZJia YWang X(2024)Meta-Path Based Attentional Graph Learning Model for Vulnerability DetectionIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2023.334026750:3(360-375)Online publication date: Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2023.3340267
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