Abstract
Code clones are similar code portions. Cloning is a process of duplicating code segments by copy-paste activities that is a common activity in software development. It is believed that the presence of code clone is one of the factors that have a great impact on software quality attributes. In literature many techniques have been proposed to detect and eliminate code clones on this basis. Various research efforts are being performed to reduce somber problems caused by code clones. This paper presents the study of the effect of code clones on software quality. In this paper an industrial study is presented to understand impact of code clones on a software system from software developer's point of view. This study involves a questionnaire survey and collects enough data about the reasons behind the cloning activity and the impact of code clones on a software system. The results of the study show that clones have a harmful effect on the system. This study also suggests that maintenance is the mostly effected software quality attribute. Keywords—Code Clones, Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), Program Dependence Graph (PDG).
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONCode clones are introduced by copy–paste programming activity in software development [1]
Code clones are similar or identical code portions in software programs
The survey consisted of 34 pre-defined multiple choice questions, which were designed to understand the participant’s view about clone definition, why they copypaste code, impact of clones on software quality and which of the software quality attribute is mostly effected by code clones
Summary
Code clones are introduced by copy–paste programming activity in software development [1] Such programming practices are common, very easy and can reduce programming effort as well as time as they reuse on hand code rather than rewriting related code from scratch. Many techniques have been proposed to detect, manage and remove code clones [3]. The experience of professional people working in software industry with clones how they define a clone and impact of clones over software quality attributes is introduced in this paper. In this study enough data is collected from industrial perspective, to answer the above discussed questions regarding code cloning practices in software development
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