Unveiling Code Clone Patterns in Open Source VR Software: An Empirical Study

TL;DR

This paper presents the first large-scale empirical analysis of code cloning in open-source VR software, revealing unique cloning patterns and challenges specific to VR development environments.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive study of cloning in VR software, combining source code and serialized file analysis, which was previously unexplored.

Findings

High prevalence of code clones in VR projects

Distinct cloning patterns due to serialized files

Implications for VR software maintenance and security

Abstract

Code cloning is frequently observed in software development, often leading to a variety of maintenance and security issues. While substantial research has been conducted on code cloning in traditional software, to the best of my knowledge, there is a lack of studies on cloning in VR software that consider its unique nature, particularly the presence of numerous serialized files in conjunction with the source code. In this paper, we conduct the first large-scale quantitative empirical analysis of software clones in 345 open-source VR projects, using the NiCad detector for source code clone detection and large language models (LLMs) for identifying serialized file clones. Our study leads to a number of insights into cloning phenomena in VR software, guided by seven carefully formulated research questions. These findings, along with their implications, are anticipated to provide useful guidance for both researchers and software developers within the VR field.