Patent ID: 7395523

Claim:
A method for developing source code for a computer program, comprising the steps of: generating a plurality of source code statements in a source code file, said source code file being compilable into object code of said computer program; automatically maintaining a record of status of each respective source code statement, said record of status including, with respect to each of one or more said source code statements, whether the respective source code statement has been generated as a copy of a source code statement other than the respective source code statement; editing a first source code statement of said plurality of source code statements to produce an edited first source code statement; automatically determining whether one or more copies of said first source code statement exist within said source code file based on said status of each respective source code statement, each of said first source code statement and copy of said first source code statement occupying a different respective location within said source code file and being compilable together into said object code of said computer program; and responsive to said automatically determining step, automatically propagating changes made by said editing step to said one or more copies of said first source code statement.