Duplicate code detection using control statements

Abstract

Code clone detection is an important area of research as reusability is a key factor in software evolution. Duplicate code degrades the design and structure of software and software qualities like readability, changeability, maintainability. Code clone increases the maintenance cost as incorrect changes in copied code may lead to more errors. In this paper we address structural code similarity detection and propose new methods to detect structural clones using structure of control statements. By structure we mean order of control statements used in the source code. We have considered two orders of control structures: (i) Sequence of control statements as it appears (ii) Execution flow of control statements