A large number of academic research projects have been carried out on empirical studies or tool supports for detecting code clones. However, there are few examples of the practical adoption of these tools. In our unique approach to code clone detection, we focused on high tunability, scalability, compatibility, and explorability when developing our code clone detection algorithm and system. Our technology has been successfully used inside Microsoft and been integrated into Visual Studio 2012.
- Yingnong Dang, Dongmei Zhang, Song Ge, Chengyun Chu, Yingjun Qiu, and Tao Xie, XIAO: Tuning Code Clones at Hands of Engineers in Practice, Annual Computer Security Applications Conference 2012, December 2012
- Xiaoyin Wang, Yingnong Dang, Lu Zhang, Dongmei Zhang, Erica Lan, and Hong Mei, “Can I Clone This Piece of Code Here?”, 27th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, September 2012
- Yingnong Dang, Song Ge, Ray Huang, and Dongmei Zhang, Code Clone Detection Experience at Microsoft, Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Software Clones, May 2011
Tech transfer
- Code clone analysis feature in Visual Studio 2012
Our code clone analysis algorithm has been integrated into Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate 2012. The code clone analysis feature in VS 2012 can help developers efficiently identify code-refactoring opportunities and quickly find code defects in duplcated code.
- Channel 9: Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate 2012: Finding and managing cloned code (Chinese version).
- Tech Ed 2011: "The Future of Microsoft Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management" (Code clone analysis feature demonstrated at 26'~29').
- BUILD conference 2011: Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President of Visual Studio demonstrated code clone feature at 12'30'' in a keynote (keynote #2).
- Walk throughs of the feature:
2. Code clone search service for security vulnerability investigation
The Microsoft security team has integrated our scalable clone search service into their security investigation process. Technet: Code clone analysis helps secure Microsoft product.
