Computer Science

Computer Science ›› 2021, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (5): 75-85.doi: 10.11896/jsjkx.200900062

• Computer Software • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Empirical Study on Stability of Clone Code Sets Based on Class Granularity

ZHANG Jiu-jie1, CHEN Chao1, NIE Hong-xuan1, XIA Yu-qin1, ZHANG Li-ping2, MA Zhan-fei1   

  1. 1 Department of Computer Science & Technology,Baotou Teachers' College,Baotou,Inner Mongolia 014030,China
    2 School of Computer Science & Technology,Inner Mongolia Normal University,Hohhot 010022,China
  • Received:2020-09-08 Revised:2020-12-02 Online:2021-05-15 Published:2021-05-09
  • About author:ZHANG Jiu-jie,born in 1990,master,is a member of China Computer Federation.His main research interests include software engineering,software maintenance and evolution,program source code analysis,clone code detection and management.(zhangjiujie@bttc.edu.cn)
    XIA Yu-qin,born in 1973,master,associate professor.Her main research interests include software engineering,artificial intelligence and computer education.
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(61762071,61462071) and Natural Science Foundation of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,China(2014MS0613,2015MS0606,2016MS0614,2019MS06037).

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Abstract: Researching on clone code is closely related to various problems in software engineering.The existing researches and studies on stability of clone code mainly focus on comparisons between clone code and non-clone code,or between different types of clone code.Rare studies consider the object-oriented classes in which clone sets distribute.This paper presents a comprehensive empirical study on stability of clone sets based on object-oriented class granularity.This paper frames four study problems about the stability of clone sets.Around these particular problems,all clone sets are categorized into three groups,intra-class clone sets,inter-class clone sets and hybrid-class clone sets.And stability of them is compared and analyzed by 9 evolution patterns from 4 perspectives during the process of software evolution.First of all,clone code fragments in all revisions of subject systems are detected and tagged with object-oriented classes where they distribute in.Next,clone sets between adjacent revisions are mapped based on mapping clone fragments,and evolution patterns of clone sets can be recognized and tagged.After that,clone genealogy is constructed by combing the results of mapping relations and evolution patterns,and then stability of three groups of clone sets is calculated from different perspectives.Eventually,differences of three groups are compared and analyzed.According to the experimental results on 7 700 revisions of seven diverse object-oriented subject systems,about 60% of intra-class clone sets have a life cycle more than half of the total number of reversions,the percentage of inter-class clone sets and hybrid clone sets that have a life cycle rate of 50% or more are both close to 35%.Comparatively speaking,among three kinds of clone sets,the frequency of changes within intra-class clone sets is the lowest.Also,there is a bit more merging,branching and late propagation evolution patterns in inter-class clone sets.And the frequency of fragments deletions,consistent changes and inconsistent changes is the highest in hybrid-class clone sets.Overall,stability of intra-class clone sets is the best,hybrid-class clone sets should be given a higherpriority to tracing or refactoring in the process of software evolution.The clone code stability analysis methods and findings from this work will provide a strong reference and support for clone code maintenance,tracking,refactoring and other cloning management related software activities.

Key words: Clone code, Hybrid-class clone, Inter-class clone, Intra-class-clone, Software evolution, Software maintenance, Stability

CLC Number: 

  • TP311.5
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