Understanding and supporting source code evolution

提高程序员修改源代码的能力是我研究计划的长期目标。源代码需要更改的原因有很多。例如，一个已经在使用的程序（可能是许多年前开发的）可能需要修改，以适应新的业务需求或不断变化的执行环境。即使是创建新程序也可以被看作是对代码库进行更改的迭代过程，从程序的一个非常简单的版本开始。此外，新的和现有的程序通常都需要有缺陷（即，“bug”）在发现时进行纠正。一些源代码的更改可能很小，只对局部产生影响;其他更改可能影响深远，涉及重大的结构修改。尽管在这个领域已经有了一些工作，但是对于程序员来说，执行更改任务仍然很困难。

Improving the ability of programmers to make changes to source code is the long-term goal of my research program. Source code needs to be changed for a number of different reasons. For example, a program already in use (possibly first developed many year earlier) may need to be changed to accommodate new business requirements or a changing execution environment. Even creating new programs can be seen as an iterative process of making changes to the code base, beginning with a very simple version of the program. In addition, both new and existing programs often need to have flaws (i.e., "bugs") corrected as they are discovered. Some source code changes may be small with only local effect; other changes may be far reaching involving significant structural modifications. Despite existing work in this area, performing change tasks remains difficult for programmers.