Identifying and Removing Software Clones

Ad-hoc reuse through copy-and-paste occurs frequently in practice affecting the evolvability of software. Researchers have investigated ways to locate and remove duplicated code. Empirical studies have explored the root causes and effects of duplicated code and the evolution of duplicated code. This chapter summarizes the state of the art in detecting, managing, and removing software redundancy. It describes consequences, pros and cons of copying and pasting code.