Supporting repetitive small-scale changes
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2007
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Abstract
vVhen modifying a software system, a developer may find it necessary to repeat a given change throughout its source code. vVhile the change itself may not be difficult to implement, discovering the locations where it should be applied can be onerous. Syntactic differences in otherwise semantically similar code can render traditional tools ineffective. This thesis describes a heuristic search technique to help find locations required to complete a repetitive small-scale change (RSC). By observing the developer perform a change once, it is possible to infer semantic information about that change and automatically suggest locations where the same change might need to be made. This technique is implemented in a tool called Reverb. The utility of this technique is evaluated by comparing Reverb's search results against those of traditional approaches, for RSCs conducted on two open source applications; Reverb is found to have superior recall and precision in the cases evaluated.
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Bibliography: p. 85-93
Some pages are in colour.
Some pages are in colour.
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Citation
McIntyre, M. M. (2007). Supporting repetitive small-scale changes (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1413