About Me

I am currently a Research Scientist at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). I obtained my Ph.D. from The Australian National University (ANU), where I was supervised by Prof. Zhenchang Xing.

As an emerging researcher in software engineering, programming languages, and software quality, I am committed to pushing the boundaries of high-quality software through a multidisciplinary approach. My research combines empirical studies, data mining, program analysis, and Large Language Models (LLMs) to explore key areas such as software evolution, software comprehension, maintainability, and performance optimization.

I have authored over 10 papers in top-tier international conferences and journals like ICSE, FSE, and TSE. My work has been recognized with an ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at ICSE 2024.

In addition to my research, I am dedicated to developing and refining innovative tools. Notably, I have developed the RIdiom IDE plugin, the Python package for Pythonic idiom-based refactoring, and the DeIdiom web platform for explaining Pythonic idioms.

Research Interest

  • Topics: Code Evolution (Code Update, Refactoring and Migration, API Evolution), Program Comprehension, Mining Software Repositories and Documentation, Performance Measurement, Empirical Studies

  • AI for SE: Automating SE tasks with LLMs, Prompt Engineering, Feature Engineering

  • Python Ecosystem: Pythonic Idioms, Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs), CPython Bytecode, Python Libraries, Python Documentation

  • Program Analysis: AST, Control Flow and Data Flow Analysis, Symbolic Execution and Constraint Solving

News

  • [Jun 2024] Our paper "Automated Refactoring of Non-Idiomatic Python Code with Pythonic Idioms" is accepted to TSE!
  • [Feb 2024] Our paper "Hard to Read and Understand Pythonic Idioms? DeIdiom and Explain Them in Non-Idiomatic Equivalent Code" wins ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award in ICSE 2024!
  • [Jan 2024] Our paper "Refactoring to Pythonic Idioms: A Hybrid Knowledge-Driven Approach Leveraging Large Language Models" is accepted to FSE 2024!
  • [Oct 2023] Our paper "Hard to Read and Understand Pythonic Idioms? DeIdiom and Explain Them in Non-Idiomatic Equivalent Code" is accepted to ICSE 2024!

Publications

11. [TSE 2024] Automated Refactoring of Non-Idiomatic Python Code with Pythonic Idioms.

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Dehai Zhao, Xiwei Xu, Liming Zhu, Qinghua Lu.

IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. Accepted.

10. [FSE 2024] Refactoring to Pythonic Idioms: A Hybrid Knowledge-Driven Approach Leveraging Large Language Models.

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Xiaoxue Ren, Qinghua Lu, Xiwei Xu.

The 32th ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering. Accepted as a Research Full Paper.

9. [ICSE 2024] Hard to Read and Understand Pythonic Idioms? DeIdiom and Explain Them in Non-Idiomatic Equivalent Code. ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Dehai Zhao, Qinghua Lu, Xiwei Xu, Liming Zhu.

The 46th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering. Accepted as a Research Track Full Paper.

8. [ICSE 2023] Faster or Slower? Performance Mystery of Python Idioms Unveiled with Empirical Evidence.

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Xin Xia, Xiwei Xu, Liming Zhu, Qinghua Lu.

The 45th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering. Accepted as a Research Full paper.

7. [ICSE 2023] RIdiom: Automatically Refactoring Non-Idiomatic Python Code with Pythonic Idioms.

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Xiwei Xu, Liming Zhu.

The 45th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering. Accepted as a Demo Tool paper.

6. [ESEC/FSE 2022] Making Python Code Idiomatic by Automatic Refactoring Non-Idiomatic Python Code with Pythonic Idioms.

Zejun Zhang, Zhenchang Xing, Xin Xia, Xiwei Xu, Liming Zhu, Qinghua Lu.

The 30th ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering. Accepted as a Research Full paper.

5. [ICSE 2021] Unveiling the Mystery of API Evolution in Deep Learning Frameworks – A Case Study of Tensorflow 2.

Zejun Zhang, Yanming Yang, Xin Xia, David Lo, Xiaoxue Ren, John Grundy.

The 43rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering. Accepted as a SEIP Track Full Paper.

4. [ICPC 2020] Deep-Diving into Documentation to Develop Improved Java-to-Swift API Mapping.

Zejun Zhang, Minxue Pan, Tian Zhang, Xinyu Zhou, Xuandong Li.

Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Program Comprehension. Accepted as a Research Track Full Paper.

3. [JSS 2020] Enhancing Example-Based Code Search with Functional Semantics.

Zhengzhao Chen, Renhe Jiang, Zejun Zhang, Yu Pei, Minxue Pan, Tian Zhang, Xuandong Li.

Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 165. Accepted as a Full Paper.

2. [SCAM 2018] Semantics-Based Code Search Using Input/Output Examples.

Renhe Jiang, Zhengzhao Chen, Zejun Zhang, Yu Pei, Minxue Pan and Tian Zhang.

The 18th International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation. Accepted as a Research Track Full Paper.

1. [Internetware 2018] A Documentation-Based Constraint Generation Method for Java APIs.

Zejun Zhang, Shaobo Wu, Renhe Jiang, Minxue Pan, Tian Zhang.

The 10th Asia-Pacific Symposium on Internetware. Accepted as a Full Paper.

Awards

  • ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award (ICSE 2024).
  • ZhejiangLab Cup Global Zero Shot Learning Competition in 2018. Second Round 16th.
  • Tianchi Competition in Pulmonary Nodules Diagnosis in 2017. First Round 87th.
  • Excellent Graduation Thesis in 2016.
  • The Second Prize in Hebei Province in National University Mathematical Modeling Competition in 2015.
  • The Third Prize in the 10th Mathematics Competition of Hebei Geological University in 2014.
  • The First Prize in the 14th Fahrenheit Cup Mathematics Competition at Hebei Geological University in 2012.

Services

Journal Reviewer

  • Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
  • Automated Software Engineering