Title:
  Finding Dependence Cluster Causes

Abstract:
  A dependence cluster is a maximal set of program components that all depend
upon one another.  Such structures present potential problems for program
comprehension, testing, and maintenance.  The existence of dependence clusters
can be uncovered using source code analyzes such as program slicing.  It turns
out that large dependence clusters are prevalent in source code.  This raises
the question of dependence-cluster causes.  Potential source are investigated
including new techniques for quickly identifying {\em linchpin} vertices (a
single vertex from the program's dependence graph that holds cluster together).