Rachel Foster

General 10 min

Rachel Foster • 1 week ago

How Few AST Nodes Do You Need to Catch a Copied Function

A single function with renamed variables, reordered statements, and changed whitespace can still look structurally identical under the hood. This step-by-step guide builds a minimal AST clone detector in Python, explains where it breaks, and shows how production tools like Codequiry stack structural, token‑level, and web‑origin checks to catch the copying that student‑grade normalizers miss.

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General 7 min

Rachel Foster • 1 week ago

How UMass Amherst Brought AI Detection Into CS 121

When 800 students enroll in an introductory Python course, detecting AI-generated code by hand is impossible. UMass Amherst integrated an AI code detector trained on student-level patterns alongside traditional similarity checks—and uncovered a 14% AI flag rate, a 2% false positive rate, and a sustainable workflow that kept TAs focused on teaching rather than policing.

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General 7 min

Rachel Foster • 3 weeks ago

Across Two Semesters, AI Code Detector Accuracy Hit 87% in Python

A two-semester experiment at a mid-sized CS department put Codequiry’s AI code detector to the test across 1,200 student submissions. The tool achieved 87% overall accuracy in identifying AI-generated Python code, with a manageable false-positive rate and strong recall. The study surfaced distinct patterns in where detection excels—and where manual judgment remains essential.

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General 9 min

Rachel Foster • 1 month ago

How Code Fingerprints Catch GPL License Violations

Detecting GPL license violations in a codebase requires more than grep. Code fingerprinting and AST-based similarity analysis can identify copied open-source code even after heavy modification. This article explains the techniques behind automated license compliance detection and how enterprises use them to avoid lawsuits.

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General 8 min

Rachel Foster • 1 month ago

Inside a Startup’s Codebase License Compliance Audit

When a fintech startup faced a pre-funding due diligence request, they discovered copies of GPL-licensed libraries scattered across their proprietary codebase. This case study follows their eight-week audit, blending automated scanning tools like Codequiry and FOSSology with manual triage to achieve compliance without derailing their development roadmap.

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General 10 min

Rachel Foster • 3 months ago

How Cross-Language Code Plagiarism Detection Actually Works

Cross-language code plagiarism presents a growing challenge for programming educators as students discover they can translate solutions between languages to evade detection. This article explains the techniques—AST normalization, semantic fingerprinting, and intermediate representation comparison—that modern tools use to catch these sophisticated cases.

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General 9 min

Rachel Foster • 3 months ago

From Paper Traces to Abstract Syntax Trees: Code Similarity Then and Now

The history of code similarity detection is a story of escalating arms races. What started with professors reading printouts has evolved through Unix diffs, token-based fingerprinting, and into modern abstract syntax tree analysis. This retrospective traces the key technical shifts that shaped how we detect code plagiarism in programming courses today.

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General 10 min

Rachel Foster • 3 months ago

Why More CS Departments Are Adopting Layered Detection

Computer science departments are discovering that no single detection method catches every kind of code plagiarism. This article explores the layered detection approach combining structural, web-source, and AI analysis to create a comprehensive academic integrity system.

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General 9 min

Rachel Foster • 3 months ago

What Code Complexity Metrics Miss About Real Maintainability

Cyclomatic complexity, lines of code, and other traditional metrics have been the gold standard for decades — but they systematically miss the factors that actually make code hard to maintain. Here is what experienced teams have learned about measuring what matters.

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General 6 min

Rachel Foster • 3 months ago

The Invisible Theft of Your Website's Core Logic

While everyone watches for stolen CSS and JavaScript, a more insidious theft is happening at the server layer. Our analysis of 500 flagged enterprise codebases reveals that 34% contained verbatim backend logic lifted from competitor sites or leaked repositories. This isn't about aesthetics—it's about stealing business rules, authentication flows, and data models. The tools designed to catch student plagiarism are blind to it.

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Academic Integrity 9 min

Rachel Foster • 4 months ago

Your Students Are Hiding Plagiarism in Plain Sight

Plagiarism detection isn't just about matching code. Savvy students are using sophisticated obfuscation techniques—dead code injection, comment spoofing, and false refactoring—that fool standard similarity checkers. This guide reveals their methods and provides a tactical workflow to uncover the deception, preserving academic integrity in advanced courses.

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General 6 min

Rachel Foster • 4 months ago

Your Static Analysis Tool Is Lying to You About Technical Debt

Cyclomatic complexity and line counts are comforting lies. The technical debt that cripples engineering velocity lives in dependency graphs, commit histories, and the silent consensus of your senior developers. We’re measuring the wrong things and paying for it in missed deadlines and developer burnout.

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