Programming style authorship analysis

ABSTRACT

Detecting instances of software theft and plagiarism is a difficult problem. The statistical analysis of peculiar words or phrases known to be used by an author is a common method of settling authorship disputes in English literature. This paper presents a similar method for identifying authorship of programs. The method is based on typographic or layout style program characteristics. Our experiments show that these characteristics can be useful in determining authorship. The major benefits of the method are that it is simple, easy to automate, and can be used in conjunction with other program fingerprinting methodologies.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.5 PATTERN RECOGNITION
      I.5.3 Clustering
          Subjects: Similarity measures

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.8 Metrics
          Subjects: Complexity measures

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.5 LEGAL ASPECTS OF COMPUTING
      K.5.1 Hardware/Software Protection
          Subjects: Proprietary rights

General Terms:
Algorithms, Human Factors, Management, Measurement, Security