Known as the CodePhage, this automatic bug repair program doesn’t even necessitate looking at the source code whatsoever in order to repair buggy software. Instead, it searches other open-source programs similar to the original and applies their clean code over the buggy code. Essentially, CodePhage is equivalent to applying a skin graft over damaged tissue.
“Remarkably, the system, dubbed CodePhage, doesn’t require access to the source code of the applications whose functionality it’s borrowing. Instead, it analyzes the applications’ execution and characterizes the types of security checks they perform. As a consequence, it can import checks from applications written in programming languages other than the one in which the program it’s repairing was written.” – Larry Hardesty, MIT
“The longer-term vision is that you never have to write a piece of code that somebody else has written before. The system finds that piece of code and automatically puts it together with whatever pieces of code you need to make your program work.” – Martin Rinard, MIT Professor