On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity

Xiao Cheng; Lingxiao Jiang; Hao Zhong; Haibo Yu; Jianjun Zhao

doi:10.1145/2975961.2975967

On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity

Xiao Cheng, Lingxiao Jiang, Hao Zhong, Haibo Yu, Jianjun Zhao

Advanced Software Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

More and more mobile applications run on multiple mobile operating systems to attract more users of different platforms. Although versions on different platforms are implemented in different programming languages (e.g., Java and Objective-C), there must be many code snippets that implement the similar business logic on different platforms. Such code snippets are called cross-platform clones. It is challenging but essential to detect such clones for software maintenance. Due to the practice that developers usually use some common identifiers when implementing the same business logic on different platforms, in this paper, we investigate the identifier similarity of the same mobile application on different platforms and provide insights about the feasibility of cross-platform clone detection via identifier similarity. In our experiment, we have analyzed the source code of 18 open-source cross-platform applications which are implemented on Android, iOS and Windows Phone, and find that the smaller KL-Divergence the application has, the more accurate the clones detected by identifiers will be.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016
Editors	Lucia Lucia, Ming Li, Xiaoyin Wang
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages	39-42
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Print)	9781450345118
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2975961.2975967
Publication status	Published - Sep 3 2016
Event	5th International Workshop on Software Mining, SoftwareMining 2016 - co-located with ASE 2016 - Singapore, Singapore Duration: Sep 3 2016 → …

Publication series

Name	SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016

Other

Other	5th International Workshop on Software Mining, SoftwareMining 2016 - co-located with ASE 2016
Country	Singapore
City	Singapore
Period	9/3/16 → …

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Software
Computational Theory and Mathematics

Access to Document

10.1145/2975961.2975967

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Cite this

Cheng, X., Jiang, L., Zhong, H., Yu, H., & Zhao, J. (2016). On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity. In L. Lucia, M. Li, & X. Wang (Eds.), SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016 (pp. 39-42). (SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/2975961.2975967

On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity. / Cheng, Xiao; Jiang, Lingxiao; Zhong, Hao; Yu, Haibo; Zhao, Jianjun.

SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016. ed. / Lucia Lucia; Ming Li; Xiaoyin Wang. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2016. p. 39-42 (SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Cheng, X, Jiang, L, Zhong, H, Yu, H & Zhao, J 2016, On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity. in L Lucia, M Li & X Wang (eds), SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016. SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 39-42, 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, SoftwareMining 2016 - co-located with ASE 2016, Singapore, Singapore, 9/3/16. https://doi.org/10.1145/2975961.2975967

Cheng X, Jiang L, Zhong H, Yu H, Zhao J. On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity. In Lucia L, Li M, Wang X, editors, SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2016. p. 39-42. (SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016). https://doi.org/10.1145/2975961.2975967

Cheng, Xiao ; Jiang, Lingxiao ; Zhong, Hao ; Yu, Haibo ; Zhao, Jianjun. / On the feasibility of detecting cross-platform code clones via identifier similarity. SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016. editor / Lucia Lucia ; Ming Li ; Xiaoyin Wang. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2016. pp. 39-42 (SoftwareMining 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Mining, co-located with ASE 2016).

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