SERC Researchers Presented Two Papers at Euromicro SEAA 2026 in Kraków, Poland

Researchers from the Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) at IIIT Hyderabad presented two papers at the Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA 2026), held in Kraków, Poland. The first paper, “HARP-ML Framework: A Hybrid Assisted Refactoring Pipeline for ML Code Smell,” was presented by Gargie Tambie and co-authored with Prof. Y. Raghu Reddy. The paper focuses on improving the maintainability of machine learning code. Machine learning projects can accumulate technical debt in the form of code smells, and while existing tools can identify such issues, addressing them often remains a manual task for developers. The HARP-ML framework explores an automated approach that combines reliable rule-based fixes for straightforward issues with a small language model to handle cases requiring contextual understanding of the surrounding code. The second paper, "From Newcomers to Long-Term Users: Shifts in Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Task-Related Factors Driving GHCP Adoption", co-authored by Prof. Y. Raghu Reddy, Payel Das, Sandip Potdar, and Himanshu Warudkar examines how developers’ motivations for using AI-assisted programming tools evolve over time. Based on responses from more than 500 developers, the study explores changing patterns in the use of GitHub Copilot, highlighting differences between newcomers, who tend to value support and learning, and experienced users, who primarily seek improved productivity. The conference provided valuable opportunities to exchange ideas and engage with researchers and practitioners working in related areas of software engineering and AI-assisted development.