Feature location in source code: a taxonomy and survey

• Published in: Journal of software : evolution and process Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 53 - 95
• Main Authors: Dit, Bogdan, Revelle, Meghan, Gethers, Malcom, Poshyvanyk, Denys
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.2013; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: concept location; Feature location; program comprehension; software maintenance and evolution
• ISSN: 2047-7473; 2047-7481
• DOI: 10.1002/smr.567

SUMMARY Feature location is the activity of identifying an initial location in the source code that implements functionality in a software system. Many feature location techniques have been introduced that automate some or all of this process, and a comprehensive overview of this large body of work would be beneficial to researchers and practitioners. This paper presents a systematic literature survey of feature location techniques. Eighty‐nine articles from 25 venues have been reviewed and classified within the taxonomy in order to organize and structure existing work in the field of feature location. The paper also discusses open issues and defines future directions in the field of feature location. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. We present a survey of eighty‐nine feature location articles that were classified along nine key dimensions of a taxonomy. Researchers can use the taxonomy and survey as a basis for advancing the field, while practitioners can use it to identify techniques and tools that are well‐suited to their needs. The survey also discusses some of the open issues in feature location, such as the need for comparisons between approaches and benchmarks. We also make publicly available a set of benchmarks for systems used frequently in feature location case studies.