A Reflection on the Predictive Accuracy of Dynamic Impact Analysis

Abstract

Impact analysis as a critical step in software evolution assists developers with decision making as regards whether and where to apply code changes in evolving software. Dynamic approaches to this analysis particularly focus on the effects of potential code changes to a program with respect to its concrete executions. Given the existence of a number of prior approaches to dynamic impact analysis as opposed to a lack of systematic understanding of their performance, the first comprehensive study of the predictive accuracy of dynamic impact analysis was conducted, comparing the performance of representative techniques in this area against various kinds of realized code changes. This paper reflects on the progress in dynamic impact analysis, concerning the impact of that earlier study on later research. We also situate dynamic impact analysis within the current research and practice on impact analysis in general, and envision relevant future research vectors in this area.