On the diffuseness and the impact of multi-language code smells

On the diffuseness and the impact of multi-language code smells | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 21 October 2025 V1 Latest version Share on On the diffuseness and the impact of multi-language code smells Authors : Md Shahrukh Ansari 0009-0000-5270-2037 and Salman Abdul Moiz 0000-0001-9294-0275 [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176102294.47151539/v1 162 views 122 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Multi-language software systems integrate components written in different programming languages, offering flexibility but also introducing design challenges at language boundaries. These challenges often manifest as multi-language design smells-suboptimal design practices that can affect maintainability and reliability. Previous research proposed a detector for these smells and analyzed their quality impact; however, its accuracy and generalizability have not been independently validated. This study evaluates and refines the existing multi-language design smell detector, reassesses smell prevalence using the improved tool, and reanalyzes their relationship with software quality attributes such as fault- and change-proneness. The detector was first evaluated on 60 open-source projects to test its generalizability, after which rule-level inconsistencies were identified and corrected. The refined detector was then applied to multiple releases of nine Java Native Interface (JNI) systems for updated prevalence and impact analysis. The refined detector achieves perfect alignment with formal definitions and manual annotations. The reanalysis reveals revised distributions of smells and a much weaker statistical relationship with software faults than previously reported, while new evidence shows only limited associations with change-proneness. Supplementary Material File (wileynjdv5_ama.pdf) Download 164.01 KB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 21 October 2025 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords code smells design smells multi-language code smells multi-language design smells Authors Affiliations Md Shahrukh Ansari 0009-0000-5270-2037 University of Hyderabad School of Computer and Information Sciences View all articles by this author Salman Abdul Moiz 0000-0001-9294-0275 [email protected] University of Hyderabad School of Computer and Information Sciences View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 162 views 122 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Md Shahrukh Ansari, Salman Abdul Moiz. On the diffuseness and the impact of multi-language code smells. Authorea . 21 October 2025. 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