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As software projects progress, quality of code assumes paramount importance as it affects reliability, maintainability and security of software. For this reason, static analysis tools are used in developer workflows to flag code quality…

Modern systems operate in multiple contexts making variability a fundamental aspect of Configurable Software Systems (CSSs). Variability, implemented via pre-processor directives (e.g., #ifdef blocks) interleaved with other code and spread…

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly reshaping software development, but their impact across the software development lifecycle is underexplored. Existing work focuses on isolated activities such as code generation or testing, leaving…

Code smells are symptoms of poor design quality. Since code review is a process that also aims at improving code quality, we investigate whether and how code review influences the severity of code smells. In this study, we analyze more than…

BACKGROUND: Software engineers must be vigilant in preventing and correcting vulnerabilities and other critical bugs. In servicing this need, numerous tools and techniques have been developed to assist developers. Fuzzers, by autonomously…

A software project has "Hero Developers" when 80% of contributions are delivered by 20% of the developers. Are such heroes a good idea? Are too many heroes bad for software quality? Is it better to have more/less heroes for different kinds…

Feature toggles enable gradual rollouts and experimentation in software systems, yet often persist beyond their intended lifecycle, accumulating as technical debt. Prior research has examined feature toggle interactions and complexity, but…

Large Language Models (LLMs) promise to streamline software code reviews, but their ability to produce consistent assessments remains an open question. In this study, we tested four leading LLMs -- GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet,…

Large language models (LLMs) are poised to significantly impact software development, especially in the Open-Source Software (OSS) sector. To understand this impact, we first outline the mechanisms through which LLMs may influence OSS…

During the past years, overload at work leading to psychological diseases, such as burnouts, have drawn more public attention. This paper is a preliminary step toward an analysis of the work patterns and possible indicators of overload and…

While code review is central to the software development process, it can be tedious and expensive to carry out. In this paper, we investigate whether and how Large Language Models (LLMs) can aid with code reviews. Our investigation focuses…

Efficient bug resolution is critical for maintaining software quality and user satisfaction. However, specific bug reports experience unusually long resolution times, which may indicate underlying process inefficiencies or complex issues.…

Large Language models (LLMs) are finding wide use in software engineering practice. These models are extremely data-hungry, and are largely trained on open-source (OSS) code distributed with permissive licenses. In terms of actual use…

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in software engineering, yet comprehensive benchmarks covering diverse SE activities remain limited. We present a multi-task evaluation of 11 state-of-the-art LLMs…

Motivation: Code understandability is crucial in software development, as developers spend 58% to 70% of their time reading source code. Improving it can improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs. Problem: Experimental studies often…

Recently, workforce shortage has become a popular issue in information technology (IT). One solution to increasing the workforce supply is to increase the number of female IT professionals. This is because there is gender imbalance in…

We analyse the time evolution of two open source Java projects: Eclipse and Netbeans, both developed following agile practices, though to a different extent. Our study is centered on quality analysis of the systems, measured as defects…

Many software developers rely on open source software for developing their applications and writing their source codes. Measuring an independent project's overall productivity is still an open problem for many technology companies. In this…

To avoid software vulnerabilities, organizations are shifting security to earlier stages of the software development, such as at code review time. In this paper, we aim to understand the developers' perspective on assessing software…

Code review (CR) is essential to software development, helping ensure that new code is properly integrated. However, the CR process often involves significant effort, including code adjustments, responses to reviewers, and continued…