Masters Thesis:
Software Restructuring

Summary

1. This research attempts to answer the question, "Can one automate the process of restructuring source code?"
2. Santosh demonstrated that, using an informal recursive descent parsing process, large global functions and class methods can be restructured as compositions of smaller functions. This process is entirely automatic, based on user entered parameters at the beginning of the restructuring process.
3. The fundamental idea is to evaluate feasible regions from which to extract smaller functions, based on control scope and regions of data definition and manipulation.
4. Our restructuring process uses a parse tree designed to capture and provide convenient manipulation of this information, shown in the diagram below.