Defense of doctoral thesis - Gonzague Yernaux

Detecting semantic code clones in logic programs is a longstanding challenge, due to the lack of a unified definition of semantic similarity and the diversity of syntactic expressions that can represent similar behaviours. This thesis introduces a formal and flexible framework for semantic clone detection based on Constraint Horn Clauses (CHC). The approach considers two predicates as semantic clones if they can be independently transformed, via semantics-preserving program transformations, into a common third predicate. At the core of the method lies anti-unification, a process that computes the most specific generalization of two predicates by identifying their shared structural patterns. The framework is parametric in regard with the allowed program transformations, the notion of generality, and the so-called quality estimators that steer the anti-unification process.

• Prof. Wim Vanhoof - University of Namur, Belgium
• Prof. Katrien Beuls - University of Namur, Belgium
• Prof. Jean-Marie Jacquet - University of Namur, Belgium
• Prof. Temur Kutsia - Johannes Kepler University, Austria
• Prof. Frédéric Mesnard - University of the Reunion, Reunion Island
• Prof. Paul Van Eecke - Free University of Brussels, Belgium

The public defense (in English) will be followed by a reception.

Registration required.