Fighting Software Erosion with Automated Refactoring

Abstract

As a child, I always liked technology and my favorite characters on TV were always the scientists. Whether it was the main protagonist in Dexter's Laboratory or a science ocer on Star Trek, I never thought that once I would be this close to becoming one. My journey started when I rst saw a computer at my cousins' place. Next year in 4th grade I joined a computer class in my school. It was staggering for me and I loved every bit of it. In a year or so I got a computer from my parents and I have been hooked ever since. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Rudolf Ferenc, who kept me motivated while doing my studies. Thank you for inspiring me in times when I needed motivation and that for keeping me on the right path. Thank you for providing me with freedom in my work and for allowing me to travel a lot and, consequently, to meet with many fellow researchers. My special thanks goes to my article co-author and mentor Dr. Csaba Nagy, for guiding me and teaching me a lot of indispensable things about research. I would like to thank Dr. Lajos Jen® Fülöp, who inspired me to take the scientic path. I would also like to thank Dr. Tibor Gyimóthy, for supporting my research work, providing useful ideas, comments, and interesting research directions. I wish to thank David P. Curley for reviewing and correcting my work from a linguistic point of view. My many thanks also go to my colleagues