Correlation analysis between code clone metrics and project data on the same specification projects

摘要

The presence of code clones is pointed out as a factor that makes software maintenance more difficult. On the other hand, some research studies reported that only a small part of code clones requires simultaneous changes and their negative influences on software maintenance are limited. Besides, some other studies reported that code clones often have positive effects on software development. Currently, the authors are researching exploring the effect of clones on software development and maintenance. In this paper, the authors report their exploratory results on the relationship between clone metrics and project data such as the number of test cases and the number of found bugs. The targets of this exploration are nine web-based software systems. Interestingly, all of them were developed based on the same specification. In other words, they are functionally the same software systems. By targeting such projects, we can explore how implementation differences affect software development. As a result, unit/integration/system testing become more difficult in case that many clones exist in a project.