DepDigger: A Tool for Detecting Complex Low-Level Dependencies

Abstract

We present a tool that identifies complex data-flow dependencies on code-level, based on the measure dep-degree. Low-level dependencies between program operations are modeled by the use-def graph, which is generated from reaching definitions of variables. The tool annotates program operations with their dep-degree values, such that `difficult' program operations are easy to locate. We hope that this tool helps detecting and preventing code degeneration, which is often a challenge in today's software projects, due to the high refactoring and restructuring frequency.