Carter Davis Rescorces

Research Sources

Source 1: Flexible Tree Matching by Ranjitha Kumar(Lead Author)

• This source is an explanation of a method to compare similarity between abstract syntax trees. The authors present an algorithm that they have developed to compare the syntax and functionality of nodes in an AST and then calculate how similar it is compared to another tree that they give the algorithm. It is able to match nodes as similar even when using variable names that are different, and even when they apear at completely different ends of the tree.

Source 2: Combining Similarity Metrics with Abstract Syntax Trees to Gain Insights into How Students Program by Manuel Freire-Morán

• This paper shows an implementation of, and project using an algorithm like the one described in the source above. The author used the algorithm to build an analysis tool that will look through all of the submissions from students doing programing assignments in an attempt to gain insights into how the students are learning from submission to submission. Using the tree comparison it allows the author to look at changes to the actual logic of the program easily, even if code is rearranged, they can see that there was no real logical change, or if a student goes in an renames variables, but nothing else, they will be able to see that the programs are essentially the same.

Synthesis:

• These two papers together give a good look into methods into comparing Abstract Syntax Trees and some of their applications in the real world.