A logic meta-programming foundation for example-driven pattern detection in object-oriented programs

This paper summarizes the doctoral dissertation in which we introduced an example-driven approach to pattern detection. This approach enables specifying pattern characteristics in a familiar language: through a code excerpt that corresponds to their prototypical implementation. Such excerpts are matched against the program under investigation according to various matching strategies that vary in leniency. Each match is quantified by the extent to which it exhibits the exemplified characteristics. The smaller this extent, the more likely the match is a false positive - thus establishing a ranking which facilitates assessing a large amount of matches. Unique to the matching process is that it incorporates whole-program analyses in its comparison of individual program elements. This way, we are able to recall implicit implementation variants (i.e., those implied by the semantics of the programming language) of a pattern of which only the prototypical implementation has been exemplified.