Can You Improve My Code? Optimizing Programs with Local Search Article Swipe

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Fatemeh Abdollahi , Saqib Ameen , Matthew E. Taylor , Levi H. S. Lelis ·

YOU? · · 2023 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2307.05603

This paper introduces a local search method for improving an existing program with respect to a measurable objective. Program Optimization with Locally Improving Search (POLIS) exploits the structure of a program, defined by its lines. POLIS improves a single line of the program while keeping the remaining lines fixed, using existing brute-force synthesis algorithms, and continues iterating until it is unable to improve the program's performance. POLIS was evaluated with a 27-person user study, where participants wrote programs attempting to maximize the score of two single-agent games: Lunar Lander and Highway. POLIS was able to substantially improve the participants' programs with respect to the game scores. A proof-of-concept demonstration on existing Stack Overflow code measures applicability in real-world problems. These results suggest that POLIS could be used as a helpful programming assistant for programming problems with measurable objectives.

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Code (set theory) Computer science Exploit Source lines of code Line (geometry) Programming language Computer security Set (abstract data type) Mathematics Software Geometry

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Type: preprint
Language: en
Landing Page: http://arxiv.org/abs/2307.05603
PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.05603
OA Status: green
Cited By: 1
Related Works: 10
OpenAlex ID: https://openalex.org/W4384261828

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OpenAlex ID: https://openalex.org/W4384261828

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2307.05603

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Title: Can You Improve My Code? Optimizing Programs with Local Search

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Type: preprint

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Language: en

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Publication year: 2023

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Publication date: 2023-07-10

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Authors: Fatemeh Abdollahi, Saqib Ameen, Matthew E. Taylor, Levi H. S. Lelis

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Landing page: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.05603

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PDF URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.05603

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OA status: green

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OA URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.05603

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Concepts: Code (set theory), Computer science, Exploit, Source lines of code, Line (geometry), Programming language, Computer security, Set (abstract data type), Mathematics, Software, Geometry

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Cited by: 1

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Citations by year (recent): 2025: 1

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Related works (count): 10

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