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Cited by 346

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

Identifying syntactic differences between two programs

Yang, Wuu·1991·Software: Practice and Experience
DOI 10.1002/spe.4380210706
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Abstract

Programmers frequently face the need to identify the differences between two programs, usually two different versions of a program. Text‐based tools such as the UNIXr̀ utility diff often produce unsatisfactory comparisons because they cannot accurately pinpoint the differences and because they sometimes produce irrelevant differences. Since programs have a rigid syntactic structure as described by the grammar of the programming language in which they are written, we develop a comparison algorithm that exploits knowledge of the grammar. The algorithm, which is based on a dynamic programming scheme, can point out the differences between two programs more accurately than previous text comparison tools. Finally, the two programs are pretty‐printed ‘synchronously’ with the differences highlighted so that the differences are easily identified.

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Research works printed but not linked: 31

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Metadata

Authors
Yang, W.
Venue
Software: Practice and Experience
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1991-07
Volume
21
Issue
7
Pages
739-755
ISSN
  • 0038-0644 (ISSN-L)
  • 1097-024X
DOI
10.1002/spe.4380210706
OpenAlex
W2049461910
Cited by
346
References
0
FWCI
10.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 5600 d)

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