Software quality analysis by code clones in industrial legacy software

A. Monden, D. Nakae, T. Kamiya, S. Sato, K. Matsumoto

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

116 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Existing research suggests that the code clone (duplicated code) is one of the factors that degrades the design and the structure of software and lowers the software quality such as readability and changeability. However, the influence of code clones on software quality has not been quantitatively clarified yet. We have tried to quantitatively clarify the relation between code clones and the software reliability and maintainability of twenty year old software. As a result, we found that modules having code clones (clone-included modules) are more reliable than modules having no code clone (non-clone modules) on average. Nevertheless, the modules having very large code clones (more than 200 SLOC) are less reliable than non-clone modules. We also found that clone-included modules are less maintainable (having greater revision number on average) than non-clone modules; and, modules having larger code clone are less maintainable than modules having smaller code clone.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 8th IEEE Symposium on Software Metrics, METRICS 2002
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages87-94
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)0769513395
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes
Event8th IEEE Symposium on Software Metrics, METRICS 2002 - Ottawa, Canada
Duration: Jun 4 2002Jun 7 2002

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Software Metrics Symposium
Volume2002-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1435

Other

Other8th IEEE Symposium on Software Metrics, METRICS 2002
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityOttawa
Period6/4/026/7/02

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Cloning
  • Computer industry
  • Costs
  • Degradation
  • Electronic switching systems
  • Software maintenance
  • Software quality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Software quality analysis by code clones in industrial legacy software'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this