The detection and extraction of interleaved code segments

Abstract

This project is concerned with a specific difficulty that arises when trying to understand and modify computer programs. In particular, it is concerned with the phenomenon of 'interleaving' in which one section of a program accomplishes several purposes, and disentangling the code responsible for each purposes is difficult. Unraveling interleaved code involves discovering the purpose of each strand of computation, as well as understanding why the programmer decided to interleave the strands. Increased understanding improve the productivity and quality of software maintenance, enhancement, and documentation activities. It is the goal of the project to characterize the phenomenon of interleaving as a prerequisite for building tools to detect and extract interleaved code fragments.