The identifiers chosen by programmers as function names contain valuable information. They are often the starting point for the program understanding activities, especially if high level views, like the call graph, are available. In this paper the lexical, syntactical and semantical structure of function identifiers is analyzed by means of a segmentation technique, a regular language and a conceptual classification. The application of these analyses to a database of procedural programs suggested some potential uses of the results, ranging from the support to program understanding, to the evolution toward a standard and more maintainable form
Nomen est Omen: Analyzing the Language of Function Identifiers
Caprile, Bruno Giovanni;Tonella, Paolo
1999-01-01
Abstract
The identifiers chosen by programmers as function names contain valuable information. They are often the starting point for the program understanding activities, especially if high level views, like the call graph, are available. In this paper the lexical, syntactical and semantical structure of function identifiers is analyzed by means of a segmentation technique, a regular language and a conceptual classification. The application of these analyses to a database of procedural programs suggested some potential uses of the results, ranging from the support to program understanding, to the evolution toward a standard and more maintainable formI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
