Object identification in legacy code as a grouping problem

Maintenance is undoubtedly the most effort-consuming activity in software production whereby the entropy of legacy systems is a major challenge. Migration of legacy systems to object-oriented technology is considered by many organizations as a suitable way out, however, the cost and the complexity of the task may dissuade the decision-makers. As a contribution to the automation, complete or partial, of the migration process, this paper presents two algorithms for identifying objects in procedural code, a task which is crucial within the entire process. The suggested algorithms are experimentally evaluated, using the examples of three existing systems.