Semantic Patches for Adaptation of JavaScript Programs to Evolving LibrariesTechnical Track
Thu 27 May 2021 04:05 - 04:25 at Blended Sessions Room 2 - 2.4.2. API: Evolution and Maintenance #1
JavaScript libraries are often updated and sometimes breaking changes are introduced in the process, resulting in the client developers having to adapt their code to the changes. In addition to locating the affected parts of their code, the client developers must apply suitable patches, which is a tedious, error-prone, and entirely manual process.
To reduce the manual effort, we present JSFIX. Given a collection of semantic patches, which are formalized descriptions of the breaking changes, the tool detects the locations affected by breaking changes and then transforms those parts of the code to become compatible with the new library version. JSFIX relies on an existing static analysis to approximate the set of affected locations, and an interactive process where the user answers questions about the client code to filter away false positives.
An evaluation involving 12 popular JavaScript libraries and 203 clients shows that our notion of semantic patches can accurately express most of the breaking changes that occur in practice, and that JSFIX can successfully adapt most of the clients to the changes. In particular, 31 clients have accepted pull requests made by JSFIX, indicating that the code quality is good enough for practical usage. It takes JSFIX only a few seconds to patch, on average, 3.8 source locations affected by breaking changes in each client, with only 2.7 questions to the user, which suggests that the approach can significantly reduce the manual effort required when adapting JavaScript programs to evolving libraries.
Wed 26 MayDisplayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change
Thu 27 MayDisplayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change
04:05 - 05:05 | 2.4.2. API: Evolution and Maintenance #1Technical Track / Journal-First Papers at Blended Sessions Room 2 | ||
04:05 20mPaper | Semantic Patches for Adaptation of JavaScript Programs to Evolving LibrariesTechnical Track Technical Track Benjamin Barslev Nielsen Aarhus University, Martin Toldam Torp Aarhus University, Anders Møller Aarhus University Pre-print Media Attached | ||
04:25 20mPaper | An Empirical Study of Dependency Downgrades in the npm EcosystemJournal-First Journal-First Papers Filipe Cogo Centre for Software Excellence, Huawei, Canada, Gustavo A. Oliva Queen's University, Ahmed E. Hassan School of Computing, Queen's University Link to publication DOI Pre-print Media Attached | ||
04:45 20mPaper | A3: Assisting Android API Migrations Using Code ExamplesJournal-First Journal-First Papers Maxime Lamothe Concordia University, Weiyi Shang Concordia University, Tse-Hsun (Peter) Chen Concordia University DOI Pre-print Media Attached |