A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm

Mark Harman; Lin Hu; Robert Mark Hierons; Xingyuan Zhang; Malcolm Munro; Jos'e Javier Dolado; Mari Carmen Otero; Joachim Wegener

doi:10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742

A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm

Mark Harman, Lin Hu, Robert Mark Hierons, Xingyuan Zhang, Malcolm Munro, Jos'e Javier Dolado, Mari Carmen Otero, Joachim Wegener

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Side-effects are widely believed to impede program comprehension and have a detrimental effect upon software maintenance. This paper introduces an algorithm for side-effect removal which splits the side-effects into their pure expression meaning and their state-changing meaning. Symbolic execution is used to determine the expression meaning, while transformation is used to place the state-changing part in a suitable location in a transformed version of the program. This creates a program which is semantically equivalent to the original but guaranteed to be free from side-effects. The paper also reports the results of an empirical study which demonstrates that the application of the algorithm causes a significant improvement in program comprehension.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance
Subtitle of host publication	proceedings : October 3-6, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Place of Publication	Los Alamitos, California, USA
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society Press
Pages	2-11
Number of pages	10
Volume	N/A
Edition	N/A
ISBN (Print)	0769518192
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742
Publication status	Published - 2002

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10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742

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Harman, M., Hu, L., Hierons, R. M., Zhang, X., Munro, M., Dolado, J. J., Otero, M. C., & Wegener, J. (2002). A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm. In IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance: proceedings : October 3-6, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (N/A ed., Vol. N/A, pp. 2-11). IEEE Computer Society Press. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742

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abstract = "Side-effects are widely believed to impede program comprehension and have a detrimental effect upon software maintenance. This paper introduces an algorithm for side-effect removal which splits the side-effects into their pure expression meaning and their state-changing meaning. Symbolic execution is used to determine the expression meaning, while transformation is used to place the state-changing part in a suitable location in a transformed version of the program. This creates a program which is semantically equivalent to the original but guaranteed to be free from side-effects. The paper also reports the results of an empirical study which demonstrates that the application of the algorithm causes a significant improvement in program comprehension.",

author = "Mark Harman and Lin Hu and Hierons, {Robert Mark} and Xingyuan Zhang and Malcolm Munro and Dolado, {Jos'e Javier} and Otero, {Mari Carmen} and Joachim Wegener",

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language = "English",

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Harman, M , Hu, L, Hierons, RM, Zhang, X, Munro, M, Dolado, JJ, Otero, MC & Wegener, J 2002, A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm. in IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance: proceedings : October 3-6, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. N/A edn, vol. N/A, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, California, USA, pp. 2-11. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742

A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm. / Harman, Mark ; Hu, Lin; Hierons, Robert Mark et al.
IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance: proceedings : October 3-6, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Vol. N/A N/A. ed. Los Alamitos, California, USA: IEEE Computer Society Press, 2002. p. 2-11.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper

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T1 - A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm

AU - Harman, Mark

AU - Hu, Lin

AU - Hierons, Robert Mark

AU - Zhang, Xingyuan

AU - Munro, Malcolm

AU - Dolado, Jos'e Javier

AU - Otero, Mari Carmen

AU - Wegener, Joachim

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AB - Side-effects are widely believed to impede program comprehension and have a detrimental effect upon software maintenance. This paper introduces an algorithm for side-effect removal which splits the side-effects into their pure expression meaning and their state-changing meaning. Symbolic execution is used to determine the expression meaning, while transformation is used to place the state-changing part in a suitable location in a transformed version of the program. This creates a program which is semantically equivalent to the original but guaranteed to be free from side-effects. The paper also reports the results of an empirical study which demonstrates that the application of the algorithm causes a significant improvement in program comprehension.

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DO - 10.1109/ICSM.2002.1167742

M3 - Conference paper

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BT - IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance

PB - IEEE Computer Society Press

CY - Los Alamitos, California, USA

ER -

A Post-Placement Side-Effect Removal Algorithm

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