Program optimization is a crucial step in the development of performance critical applications but in most cases only manually realizable due to its complexity. The substantial structural changes to the source code reduce the readability and maintainability and complicate the ongoing development of the applications. The objective of this thesis is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of an AST-based solution to the conflicting relationship between performance and structural code quality of a program. For this purpose a prototype is developed to automate usually manual optimizations based on instructions by the user. The thesis covers the design and implementation as well as the evaluation of the prototype for the usage as a tool in software development. As a result this thesis shows the categorical usability of the AST-based approach and the need for further investigation.

@misc{AOMCOVDAG16,
	author	 = {Jonas Gresens},
	title	 = {{Automation of manual code optimization via DSL-directed AST-manipulation}},
	advisors	 = {Julian Kunkel},
	year	 = {2016},
	month	 = {06},
	school	 = {Universität Hamburg},
	howpublished	 = {{Online \url{https://wr.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/_media/research:theses:jonas_gresens_automation_of_manual_code_optimization_via_dsl_directed_ast_manipulation.pdf}}},
	type	 = {Bachelor's Thesis},
	abstract	 = {Program optimization is a crucial step in the development of performance critical applications but in most cases only manually realizable due to its complexity. The substantial structural changes to the source code reduce the readability and maintainability and complicate the ongoing development of the applications. The objective of this thesis is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of an AST-based solution to the conflicting relationship between performance and structural code quality of a program. For this purpose a prototype is developed to automate usually manual optimizations based on instructions by the user. The thesis covers the design and implementation as well as the evaluation of the prototype for the usage as a tool in software development. As a result this thesis shows the categorical usability of the AST-based approach and the need for further investigation.},
}