Definition:

Gather information about possible values calculated at different points of an software system. This information is used to determine in which parts of that program a particular value might propagate.

Variations:

Forward Analysis:

Calculates for each program point the set of definitions that may potentially reach this program point.

Backward Analysis:

Calculates for each program point the variables that may be potentially read afterwards before their next write update.

Priority Order

Extraction > Categorize > Group

Inputs:

• Source Code

Outputs:

• Code fragments related to a feature;

Examples:

• (Bayer et al. 2014)

Tools

• InputTracer

Related Techniques

• Clustering

Recommended Situations:

To apply this technique in a satisfactory way, source code must be well written. Better results can be reached when source code possesses high level of dependencies between feature implementations. Besides that, a good documentation is not required when applying this technique.

Not Recommended Situations:

Not recommended if the products source code does not have low coupling and high cohesion. Also, if the source code possesses a high variable flow data flow analysis may have uncertain results.