LLM-Driven Code Refactoring: Opportunities and Limitations
Refactoring is a systematic process of improving code quality while preserving the functional behavior of the software. In recent years, integrated development environments (IDEs) have added or improved automatic refactoring in their features, to enhance developers’ productivity and reduce the likelihood of human errors. With the advancement and increasing popularity of large language models (LLMs), coding automation using them has gained enormous attention and has shown to be effective in performing refactorings on the source code automatically. However, this automation can carry the risk of introducing errors or hallucinations that may break or alter the software functionality. The error-proneness and the possibility of hallucinations in LLMs limit their ability to be fully integrated into an automated refactoring pipeline (e.g., IDEs) and often require humans in the loop to verify the performed modifications. In this position paper, we examine the limitations of existing LLM-based refactoring techniques. We propose research directions to address these limitations and improve the quality of LLM-based code refactoring for reliable software maintenance.
Sat 3 MayDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
14:00 - 15:30 | Session 3: Refactoring & AI, & Session 4: Plugins and applicationsIDE at 205 Chair(s): Danny Dig University of Colorado Boulder, JetBrains Research, Darya Rovdo JetBrains 14:00–14:45 — Session 3. Refactoring and AI. 14:45–15:30 — Session 4. Plugins and applications. | ||
14:00 15mTalk | LLM-Driven Code Refactoring: Opportunities and Limitations IDE Pre-print | ||
14:15 15mTalk | Trust Calibration in IDEs: Paving the Way for Widespread Adoption of AI Refactoring IDE Markus Borg CodeScene Pre-print | ||
14:30 15mTalk | IDE Native, Foundation Model Based Agents for Software Refactoring IDE Pre-print | ||
14:45 15mTalk | Using CognitIDE to Capture Developers’ Cognitive Load via Physiological Activity During Everyday Software Development Tasks IDE Fabian Stolp Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Charlotte Brandebusemeyer Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Franziska Hradilak Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Lara Kursawe Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Magnus Menger Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Franz Sauerwald Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Bert Arnrich Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam Pre-print | ||
15:00 15mTalk | A Prototype VS Code Extension to Improve Web Accessible Development IDE Elisa Calì Politecnico di Torino, Tommaso Fulcini Politecnico di Torino, Riccardo Coppola Politecnico di Torino, Lorenzo Laudadio Politecnico di Torino, Marco Torchiano Politecnico di Torino Pre-print | ||
15:15 15mTalk | A Plugin for Cross-Language Static Analysis for Vulnerability Detection in Android Applications IDE Kishanthan Thangarajah Centre for Software Excellence, Huawei Canada, Noble Saji Mathews University of Waterloo, Canada, Mei Nagappan University of Waterloo Pre-print |