I have been doing research with a professor of mine pertaining to the topic of a well-received paper he wrote several years ago. The original paper discussed a computer program that the professor wrote. The research I am doing consists of adding new features to the computer program and broadening the scope of what the program does. The work does not change the basic premise of the paper, but rather expounds upon it and adds new applied programming concepts that have broader implications for the field. The professor wishes to publish the results of our research as an "update" to his previous paper, using the same format and information as the original paper, but with new information discussing the features being added.
Is this a common practice in academia? How are "updates" to scientific papers handled when submitting to journals? Will the paper be considered the same paper but only republished with a new title and date or will it be considered a "brand new" paper of which I will have co-authorship?