CloneDiff: semantic differencing of clones

Abstract

Clone detection provides a scalable and efficient way to detect similar codes, while program differencing is a powerful and effective way to analyze similar codes. CloneDiff, a Program Dependence Graphs (PDGs) differencing tool, complements clone detection with program differencing for the purpose of characterizing clones. It captures semantic information of clones from PDGs, and uses graph matching techniques to compute a precise characterization of clones in terms of a category of semantic differences.