Code Extraction Algorithms which Unify Slicing and Concept Assignment

One approach to reverse engineering is to partially automate sub component extraction, improvement and subsequent recombination. Two previously proposed automated techniques for supp orting this activity are slicing and concept assignment. However, neither is directly applicable in isolation; slicing criteria (sets of program variables) are simply too low level in many cases, while conc eptassignment typically fails to produc e exe cutable sub components. This paper intr oduc esa uni cation of slicing and concept assignment which exploits their combined advantages, while over coming their individual we aknesses. Our `conc ept slices' are extracted using high level criteria, while producing executable subprograms. The paper intr oduc esthree ways of combining slicing and conc ept assignment and algorithms for each. The applic ationof the conc eptslicing algorithms is illustrated with a case study from a large nancial organisation.