NCSU SOFTMAX
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North Carolina State University

SoftMax Lab

We transform complex Software Engineering problems into actionable solutions.

Publications

  1. Zhensu Sun, Haotian Zhu, Bowen Xu, Xiaoning Du, Li Li, David Lo. "Toward Agentic Runtime Healing." Communications of the ACM (CACM), 2026. Link. Journal Robustness
  2. Saima Afrin, Alessandro Midolo, Camilo Escobar-Velásquez, Mario Linares-Vásquez, Weiyuan Ding, Bowen Xu, Massimiliano Di Penta, Antonio Mastropaolo. "Large Language Models for Code Generation from Multilingual Prompts: A Curated Benchmark and a Study on Code Quality." ACM TOSEM, 2026. Link. Journal Robustness
  3. Yinan Wu, Ze Shi Li, Kathryn T. Stolee, Bowen Xu. "How Do Developers Interact with AI? An Exploratory Study on Modeling Developer Programming Behavior." FSE 2026 (Full Paper). Link. Conference Human-AI Collaboration
  4. Yinan Wu, Ze Shi Li, Kathryn T. Stolee, Bowen Xu. "Invisible Strings of Developer Programming Behavior with AI." FSE 2026 Companion. Link. Conference Human-AI Collaboration
  5. Pankaj Manoharlal Thakur, Kyle Thomson, Wesley K. G. Assunção, Bowen Xu. "Backporting in Robot Operating System: Identifying Commit Purpose and Propagation Need with Large Language Models." FORGE 2026 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  6. Jie Gao, Yue Xue, Xiaofei Xie, Junming Cao, SoeMin Thant, Erika Lee, Bowen Xu. "Understanding Codebase like a Professional! Human-AI Collaboration for Code Comprehension." ICPC 2026 (Full Paper). 🏆 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award Link. Conference Human-AI Collaboration
  7. Hua Yang, Alejandro Velasco, Thanh Le-Cong, Md Nazmul Haque, Bowen Xu, Denys Poshyvanyk. "How Do Semantically Equivalent Code Transformations Impact Membership Inference on LLMs for Code?." ICSE 2026 (Full Paper). Link. Conference Privacy Threats
  8. Quoc Hung Le, Thanh Le-Cong, Bach Le, Bowen Xu. "Optimizing Spectral Signature in Code Backdoor Detection." ICSME 2026 (Full Paper). 🏆 IEEE TCSE Distinguished Paper Award Link. Conference Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  9. Mohammad Sadegh Sheikhaei, Yuan Tian, Shaowei Wang, Bowen Xu. "A Large-Scale Empirical Evaluation of LLMs for Automated Self-Admitted Technical Debt Repayment." ACM TOSEM, 2026. Link. Journal
  10. Sen Fang, Weiyuan Ding, Zhezhen Cao, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu. "AEGIS: From Clues to Verdicts -- Graph-Guided Deep Vulnerability Reasoning via Dialectics and Meta-Auditing." arXiv:2603.20637, 2026. Link. Preprint
  11. Md Nazmul Haque, Hua Yang, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu. "How Does Quantization Impact Privacy Risk on LLMs for Code?." AIware 2025. Link. Conference Privacy Threats
  12. Yinan Wu, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, Bo Wang, Bach Le, David Lo. "Learning From the Best: What Makes Popular Hugging Face Models? A Registered Report." ICSME 2025 (Registered Reports). Link. Conference
  13. Chengran Yang, Jiakun Liu, Bowen Xu, Christoph Treude, Yunbo Lyu, Junda He, Ming Li, David Lo. "APIDocBooster: An Extract-Then-Abstract Framework for Augmenting API Documentation." ICSME 2025 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  14. Saima Afrin, Bowen Xu, Antonio Mastropaolo. "Is Quantization a Deal-breaker? Empirical Insights from Large Code Models." ICSME 2025 (Full Paper). Link. Conference Efficiency
  15. Aftab Hussain, Md Rafiqul Islam Rabin, Toufique Ahmed, Mohammad Amin Alipour, Bowen Xu, Stephen Huang. "Finding Trojan Triggers in Code LLMs: An Occlusion-based Human-in-the-loop Approach." CAIN 2025. Link. Conference Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  16. Bo Wang, Chong Chen, Junjie Chen, Bowen Xu, Chen Ye, Youfang Lin, Guoliang Dong, Jun Sun. "A Comprehensive Study of OOP-Related Bugs in C++ Compilers." IEEE TSE, 2025. Link. Journal
  17. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Junda He, Bowen Xu, Dongsun Kim, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Finding Safety Violations of AI-Enabled Control Systems through the Lens of Synthesized Proxy Programs." ACM TOSEM, 2025. Link. Journal Robustness
  18. Sen Fang, Weiyuan Ding, Mengshi Zhang, Zihao Chen, Bowen Xu. "EvaLooop: A Self-Consistency-Centered Framework for Assessing Large Language Model Robustness in Programming." ACM TOSEM, 2025. Link. Journal Robustness
  19. Zhou Yang, Jieke Shi, Muhammad Hilmi Asyrofi, Bowen Xu, Xin Zhou, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Prioritizing Speech Test Cases." ACM TOSEM, 2025. Link. Journal Robustness
  20. Junda He, Bowen Xu, Zhou Yang, DongGyun Han, Chengran Yang, Jiakun Liu, Zhipeng Zhao, David Lo. "PTM4Tag+: Tag Recommendation of Stack Overflow Posts with Pre-trained Models." Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE), 2025. Link. Journal
  21. Md Nazmul Haque, Elizabeth Lin, Lawrence Arkoh, Biruk Tadesse, Bowen Xu. "Secure or Suspect? Investigating Package Hallucinations of Shell Command in Original and Quantized LLMs." arXiv:2512.08213, 2025. Link. Preprint
  22. Hua Yang, Alejandro Velasco, Sen Fang, Bowen Xu, Denys Poshyvanyk. "Understanding Privacy Risks in Code Models Through Training Dynamics: A Causal Approach." arXiv:2512.07814, 2025. Link. Preprint Privacy Threats
  23. Sen Fang, Weiyuan Ding, Antonio Mastropaolo, Bowen Xu. "Smaller = Weaker? Benchmarking Robustness of Quantized LLMs in Code Generation." arXiv:2506.22776, 2025. Link. Preprint Robustness
  24. Xiang Lan, Tim Menzies, Bowen Xu. "Smart Cuts: Enhance Active Learning for Vulnerability Detection by Pruning Hard-to-Learn Data." arXiv:2506.20444, 2025. Link. Preprint Efficiency
  25. Aftab Hussain, Sadegh AlMahdi Kazemi Zarkouei, Md Rafiqul Islam Rabin, Mohammad Amin Alipour, Sen Lin, Bowen Xu. "Capturing the Effects of Quantization on Trojans in Code LLMs." arXiv:2505.14200, 2025. Link. Preprint Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  26. Chen Gong, Zhou Yang, Yunpeng Bai, Junda He, Jieke Shi, Kecen Li, Arunesh Sinha, Bowen Xu, Xinwen Hou, David Lo, Tianhao Wang. "BAFFLE: Hiding Backdoors in Offline Reinforcement Learning Datasets." IEEE S&P 2024. Link. Conference Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  27. Xin Zhou, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Better Automatic Vulnerability Repair by Broadening Input Ranges and Sources." ICSE 2024 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  28. Junda He, Zhou Yang, Jieke Shi, Chengran Yang, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, Xin Zhou, David Lo. "Curiosity-Driven Testing for Sequential Decision-Making Process." ICSE 2024 (Full Paper). Link. Conference Robustness
  29. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Hong Jin Kang, Bowen Xu, Junda He, David Lo. "Greening Large Language Models of Code." ICSE 2024 SEIS (Full Paper). Link. Conference Efficiency
  30. Ummay Kulsum, Haotian Zhu, Bowen Xu, Marcelo d'Amorim. "A Case Study of LLM for Automated Vulnerability Repair: Assessing Impact of Reasoning and Patch Validation Feedback." AIware 2024. Link. Conference
  31. Mohammad Sadegh Sheikhaei, Yuan Tian, Shaowei Wang, Bowen Xu. "An Empirical Study on the Effectiveness of Large Language Models for SATD Identification and Classification." Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE), 2024. Link. Journal
  32. Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, Kisub Kim, DongGyun Han, Hung Huu Nguyen, Thanh Le-Cong, Junda He, Bach Le, David Lo. "Leveraging Large Language Model for Automatic Patch Correctness Assessment." IEEE TSE, 2024. Link. Journal
  33. Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, Jie M. Zhang, Hong Jin Kang, Jieke Shi, Junda He, David Lo. "Stealthy Backdoor Attack for Code Models." IEEE TSE, 2024. 🏆 IEEE TSE Best Paper Award Link. Journal Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  34. Junda He, Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, Ting Zhang, Kisub Kim, Zhou Yang, Ferdian Thung, Ivana Clairine Irsan, David Lo. "Representation Learning for Stack Overflow Posts: How Far Are We?." ACM TOSEM, 2024. Link. Journal
  35. Nowshin Nawar Arony, Ze Shi Li, Daniela Damian, Bowen Xu. "Unveiling Inclusiveness-Related User Feedback in Mobile Applications." ACM TOSEM, 2024. Link. Journal
  36. Ze Shi Li, Nowshin Nawar Arony, Ahmed Musa Awon, Daniela Damian, Bowen Xu. "AI Tool Use and Adoption in Software Development by Individuals and Organizations: A Grounded Theory Study." arXiv:2406.17325, 2024. Link. Preprint Human-AI Collaboration
  37. Aftab Hussain, Md Rafiqul Islam Rabin, Toufique Ahmed, Bowen Xu, Premkumar Devanbu, Mohammad Amin Alipour. "Trojans in Large Language Models of Code: A Critical Review through a Trigger-Based Taxonomy." arXiv:2405.02828, 2024. Link. Preprint Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  38. Bowen Xu, Thanh-Dat Nguyen, Thanh Le-Cong, Thong Hoang, Jiakun Liu, Kisub Kim, Chen Gong, Changan Niu, Chenyu Wang, Bach Le, David Lo. "Are We Ready to Embrace Generative AI for Software Q&A?." ASE 2023 (NIER). Link. Conference Human-AI Collaboration
  39. Xin Zhou, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, Jiakun Liu, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "The Devil is in the Tails: How Long-Tailed Code Distributions Impact Large Language Models." ASE 2023 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  40. Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, DongGyun Han, Zhou Yang, Junda He, David Lo. "CCBERT: Self-Supervised Code Change Representation Learning." ICSME 2023 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  41. Xin Zhou, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, DongGyun Han, Junda He, David Lo. "Generation-based Code Review Automation: How Far Are We?." ICPC 2023 (Full Paper). Conference
  42. Chengran Yang, Bowen Xu, Jiakun Liu, David Lo. "TechSumBot: A Stack Overflow Answer Summarization Tool for Technical Query." ICSE 2023 Companion. Conference
  43. Aftab Hussain, Md Rafiqul Islam Rabin, Bowen Xu, David Lo, Mohammad Amin Alipour. "A Study of Variable-Role-based Feature Enrichment in Neural Models of Code." InteNSE 2023 (Workshop). Conference
  44. Truong Giang Nguyen, Thanh Le-Cong, Hong Jin Kang, Ratnadira Widyasari, Chengran Yang, Zhipeng Zhao, Bowen Xu, Jiayuan Zhou, Xin Xia, Ahmed E. Hassan, Xuan-Bach D. Le, David Lo. "Multi-Granularity Detector for Vulnerability Fixes." IEEE TSE, 2023. Link. Journal
  45. Ting Zhang, DongGyun Han, Venkatesh Vinayakarao, Ivana Clairine Irsan, Bowen Xu, Ferdian Thung, David Lo, Lingxiao Jiang. "Duplicate Bug Report Detection: How Far Are We?." ACM TOSEM, 2023. Link. Journal
  46. Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, David Lo. "Supporting Collateral Evolution in Software Ecosystems." Software Ecosystems: Tooling and Analytics, Springer, 2023. Book Chapter
  47. Aftab Hussain, Md Rafiqul Islam Rabin, Toufique Ahmed, Navid Ayoobi, Bowen Xu, Premkumar Devanbu, Mohammad Amin Alipour. "A Survey of Trojans in Neural Models of Source Code: Taxonomy and Techniques." arXiv:2305.03803, 2023. Preprint Backdoor Threats & Mitigation
  48. Chen Gong, Zhou Yang, Yunpeng Bai, Jieke Shi, Arunesh Sinha, Bowen Xu, David Lo, Xinwen Hou, Guoliang Fan. "Curiosity-Driven and Victim-Aware Adversarial Policies." ACSAC 2022. Conference Robustness
  49. Yucen Shi, Ying Yin, Zhengkui Wang, David Lo, Tao Zhang, Xin Xia, Yuhai Zhao, Bowen Xu. "How to Better Utilize Code Graphs in Semantic Code Search?." ESEC/FSE 2022 (Full Paper). Conference
  50. Chengran Yang, Bowen Xu, Ferdian Thung, Yucen Shi, Ting Zhang, Zhou Yang, Xin Zhou, Jieke Shi, Junda He, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Answer Summarization for Technical Queries: Benchmark and New Approach." ASE 2022 (Full Paper). Conference
  51. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, Hong Jin Kang, David Lo. "Compressing Pre-trained Models of Code into 3 MB." ASE 2022 (Full Paper). Conference Efficiency
  52. Junda He, Bowen Xu, Zhou Yang, DongGyun Han, Chengran Yang, David Lo. "PTM4Tag: Sharpening Tag Recommendation of Stack Overflow Posts with Pre-trained Models." ICPC 2022 (Full Paper). Conference
  53. Chengran Yang, Bowen Xu, Junaed Younus Khan, Gias Uddin, DongGyun Han, Zhou Yang, David Lo. "Aspect-Based API Review Classification: How Far Can Pre-trained Transformer Model Go?." SANER 2022 (Full Paper). Conference
  54. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Junda He, Bowen Xu, David Lo. "Can Identifier Splitting Improve Open-Vocabulary Language Models of Code?." SANER 2022 (ERA). Conference