Code Semantics

Code semantics research focuses on enabling computers to understand the meaning and functionality of code, going beyond simply recognizing syntax. Current efforts concentrate on evaluating large language models' (LLMs) ability to grasp code semantics through benchmarks assessing functional equivalence and robustness to semantic-preserving transformations, often employing graph neural networks and transformer architectures to represent and analyze code structure and execution flow. These advancements are crucial for improving various software engineering tasks, such as automated code generation, vulnerability detection, and program analysis, ultimately leading to more reliable and efficient software development.