General
11 min
How Source Code Plagiarism Detection Escaped the Diff Trap
What started as a textual diff in Unix is now a high-stakes algorithmic arms race. This article traces the thirty-year evolution of source code plagiarism detection—from simple token matching and AST comparison to fingerprinting that survives variable renaming, and finally to the fresh challenge of AI-generated code. We examine the real detection rates, the tools that led each era, and where Codequiry fits as the first hybrid platform to unify peer, web, and AI checks in a single reporting workflow.