Can Clean New Code Reduce Technical Debt Density?

While technical debt grows in absolute numbers as software systems evolve over time, the density of (technical divided by lines code) is reduced some cases. This can be explained either application refactorings or development new artifacts with limited Technical Debt. In this paper we explore second explanation, investigating relation between amount Debt code and evolution system. To end, compare Density existing code, investigate which three major types changes (additions, deletions modifications) primarily responsible for density. Furthermore, study whether there a quality practices ‘cleanness’ code. obtain required data, have performed large-scale case on twenty-seven open-source projects Apache Software Foundation, analyzing 66,661 classes 56,890 commits. The results suggest that writing “clean” (or at least “cleaner”) an efficient strategy reducing Density, thus preventing decay time. findings also adopting explicit policy improvement, e.g., through discussions board meetings, are associated higher frequency cleaner Therefore, champion establishment processes monitor to control accumulation