Computation of Static Execute After Relation with Applications to Software Maintenance

In this paper, we introduce Static Execute After (SEA) relationship among program components and present an efficient analysis algorithm. Our case studies show that SEA may approximate static slicing with perfect recall and high precision, while being much less expensive and more usable. When differentiating between explicit and hidden dependencies, our case studies also show that SEA may correlate with direct and indirect class coupling. We speculate that SEA may find applications in computation of hidden dependencies and through it in many maintenance tasks, including change propagation and regression testing. Keywords Impact analysis, change propagation, regression testing, hidden dependencies, coupling, control flow analysis.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ICSM
• Authors: Árpád Beszédes, Tamás Gergely, Judit Jász, Gabriella Toth, Tibor Gyimóthy, Václav Rajlich
• Keywords: Case Studies, Change Propagation, Hidden Dependencies, ICSM 2007, Software Engineering