Recommending adaptive changes for framework evolution

ABSTRACT

In the course of a framework's evolution, changes ranging from a simple refactoring to a complete rearchitecture can break client programs. Finding suitable replacements for framework elements that were accessed by a client program and deleted as part of the framework's evolution can be a challenging task. We present a recommendation system, SemDiff, that suggests adaptations to client programs by analyzing how a framework adapts to its own changes. In a study of the evolution of the Eclipse JDT framework and three client programs, our approach recommended relevant adaptive changes with a high level of precision, and detected non-trivial changes typically undiscovered by current refactoring detection techniques.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement

General Terms:
Documentation, Experimentation

Keywords:
adaptive changes, framework, historical study, mining software repositories, origin analysis, partial program analysis, recommendation system, software evolution