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Measuring the efficacy of code clone information: an empirical study

Published: 17 October 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Much recent research effort has been devoted to designing efficient code clone detection algorithms and tools. However, there has been little human-based empirical study of how the output of those tools is used by developers when performing maintenance tasks. In this study 43 computer science graduate students completed a bug localization task in which a clone was present while researchers observed their activities. The goal of the study was to understand how those developers use clone information to perform this task. The results of this study showed that participants who used the clone information correctly, i.e. they first identified a defect then used it to look for clones of the defect, were more effective than participants who used the information incorrectly. The results also showed that participants who had industrial experience were more effective than those without industrial experience.

Cited By

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  • (2011)On the need for human-based empirical validation of techniques and tools for code clone analysisProceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Clones10.1145/1985404.1985416(61-62)Online publication date: 23-May-2011
  • (2011)Extending Bug Localization Using Information Retrieval and Code Clone Location TechniquesProceedings of the 2011 18th Working Conference on Reverse Engineering10.1109/WCRE.2011.61(425-428)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2011
  • (2011)Measuring the Efficacy of Code Clone Information in a Bug Localization TaskProceedings of the 2011 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement10.1109/ESEM.2011.10(20-29)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2011

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cover image ACM Conferences
PLATEAU '10: Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools
October 2010
51 pages
ISBN:9781450305471
DOI:10.1145/1937117

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 17 October 2010

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Cited By

View all
  • (2011)On the need for human-based empirical validation of techniques and tools for code clone analysisProceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Clones10.1145/1985404.1985416(61-62)Online publication date: 23-May-2011
  • (2011)Extending Bug Localization Using Information Retrieval and Code Clone Location TechniquesProceedings of the 2011 18th Working Conference on Reverse Engineering10.1109/WCRE.2011.61(425-428)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2011
  • (2011)Measuring the Efficacy of Code Clone Information in a Bug Localization TaskProceedings of the 2011 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement10.1109/ESEM.2011.10(20-29)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2011

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