SemDiff: Analysis and recommendation support for API evolution

As a framework evolves, changes in its Application Programming Interface (API) can break client programs that extend the framework. Repairing a client program can be a challenging task because developers need to understand the context surrounding the API change. This paper describes SemDiff, a tool that recommends replacements for framework methods that were accessed by a client program and deleted during the evolution of the framework. SemDiff recommends replacements for non-trivial changes undiscovered by other change-detection techniques and also enables developers to look at the context of the changes that led to the deletion of a framework method.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Barthélémy Dagenais, Martin P. Robillard
• Keywords: Application Programming Interface, Client Program, Framework Method, ICSE 2009, Software Engineering