Automatic Identification of Software System Differences
Bo Steinholtz, Kim Waldén · IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering · 1987
A well-known method for software version control on the source file level is the incremental change technique, which isolates the differences, commonly called a delta, between two versions of a source module, and then stores only the delta. Any version of a source module can then be reconstructed from the original by successive application of deltas. The significant advantages of this approach include accuracy (because it is automatic), visibility (because it highlights differences), and economy (because it conserves storage space).