An application of fuzzy reasoning to support automated program comprehension

We are developing a knowledge based program understanding/fault localization system called BUGDOCTOR. We describe a system knowledge source called the Plan Processor that retrieves a set of program plans from a plan library using indices called signatures. We propose use of a fuzzy reasoning component to support the Plan Processor with the task of ranking the retrieved plans in order of similarity to the target code. The most similar plan can then be used for the complex plan/code matching required for automated program understanding. Our approach to plan processing may eliminate the need for exhaustive plan library searches, and could lead to automated program understanders that scale up for use on large software systems.