Tracking clones' imprint

Abstract

Cloning imprint is the lasting effect of cloning on applications. This paper aims to analyze the clone imprint over time, in terms of the extension of cloning, the persistence of clones in methods, and the stability of cloned methods. Such level of detail requires an improvement in the clone tracking algorithms previously proposed, which is also presented. We found that cloned methods are cloned most of their lifetime, cloned methods have a higher density of changes, and that changes in cloned methods tend to be customizations to the clone environment.