Code Clone Detection using Abstract Syntax Tree Technique

Abstract

Software systems are getting more complex day by day and to manage such systems is an essential topic for the software industry today. Cloning is one of the major reasons which is making maintenance of software more troublesome. Code Cloning is a mechanism of replicating code fragments by copy-paste. In the early stages of the development of project, developers find it easy to copy and simply paste the code. To be more precise, the thought behind this idea of cloning is to make another software product that duplicates the perspective and convenience of the original software. It is critical issue to comprehend that cloning need not need to include any source code in the original software. The objective in cloning is to make another software program that behaves exactly same as the original software and the way in which it behaves. Here on the implemented approach, the clone detection method is implemented using Abstract Syntax trees (ASTs). The approach is based on identifying the code clones on the basis of common sub expression. The location of code clones and their classification is carried out. Categorization is done on the basis of levenshtein distance. The approach involves abstract syntax tree based clone detection for python scripts and later comparison with the tool.