Towards flexible code clone detection, management, and refactoring in IDE

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an IDE-based clone management system to flexibly detect, manage, and refactor both exact and near-miss code clones. Using a k-difference hybrid suffix tree algorithm we can efficiently detect both exact and near-miss clones. We have implemented the algorithm as a plugin to the Eclipse IDE, and have been extending this for real-time code clone management with semi-automated refactoring support during the actual development process.