19th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM 2019)

September 30-October 01, 2019 - Cleveland, OH, USA

http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/

*** Call for research papers: http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#call

***Call for RENE papers (NEW to SCAM!): http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#renecall

***Call for engineering papers: http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#engcall

*** Important Dates

Abstract Deadline: June 13, 2019

Paper Deadline: June 17, 2019

Notification: July 12, 2019

Camera Ready: TBD

Conference: Sep 30 and Oct 1, 2019

SCAM 2019 will be held in Cleveland, OH, USA co-located with ICSME 2019.

The aim of the International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis & Manipulation (SCAM) is to bring together researchers and practitioners working on theory, techniques and applications which concern analysis and/or manipulation of the source code of computer systems. While much attention in the wider software engineering community is properly directed towards other aspects of systems development and evolution, such as specification, design and requirements engineering, it is the source code that contains the only precise description of the behaviour of the system. The analysis and manipulation of source code thus remains a pressing concern.

*** Keynote Speaker: Oege De Moor, CEO, Semmle Inc (Formerly, Professor of Computer Science, University of Oxford)

*** Covered Topics and Paper Formats

*** Research Track http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#call

We welcome submission of papers that describe original and significant work in the field of source code analysis and manipulation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

program transformation and refactoring

static and dynamic analysis

natural language analysis of source code artifacts

repository, revision, and change analysis

source level metrics

decompilation

bug location and prediction

security vulnerability analysis

source-level testing and verification

clone detection

Saskatoon-Confederation

concern, concept, and feature localization and mining

program comprehension

bad smell detection

abstract interpretation

program slicing

source level optimization

energy efficient source code

SCAM explicitly solicits results from any theoretical or technological domain that can be applied to these and similar topics. Submitted papers should describe original, unpublished, and significant work and must not have been previously accepted for publication nor be concurrently submitted for review in another journal, book, conference, or workshop. Papers must not exceed 12 pages (the last 2 pages can be used for references only) and must conform to the IEEE proceedings paper format guidelines. Templates in Latex and Word are available on IEEE's website. All submissions must be in English.

*** Engineering Track http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#engcall

This track welcomes six-page papers that report on the design and implementation of tools for source code analysis and manipulation, as well as libraries, infrastructure, and the real world studies enabled by these advances. To be clear, this is not the addition of a new track to SCAM but rather a significant expansion to the scope of the tools track of previous SCAMs.

What artefacts qualify as ?engineering track? material?

tools: software (or hardware!) programs that facilitate SCAMmy activities.

libraries: reusable API-enabled frameworks for the above.

infrastructure: while libraries are purely software, infrastructure can include projects that provide/facilitate access to data and analysis.

data: reusable datasets for other researchers to replicated and innovate with.

real world studies enabled by these advances. Here the focus is on how the {tool,infrastructure, etc} enabled the study, and not so much the study itself. The novelty of the research question is less important than the engineering challenges faced in the study.

A successful SCAM engineering track paper should

*Fall under the topics mentioned for the SCAM 2019 research track.

*Discuss engineering work artefacts that have NOT been published before. However, previous work involving the tool, but for which the tool was not the main contribution, are acceptable.

*Motivate the use cases (and hence the existence) of the engineering work.

*Relate the engineering project to earlier work, if any.

*Describe the experiences gained in developing this contribution.

Optionally (and encouraged):

*Any empirical results or user feedback is welcome.

*Contain the URL of a website where the tool/library/data/etc. can be downloaded, together with example data and clear installation guidelines, preferably but not necessarily open source.

*Contain the URL to a video demonstrating the usage of the contribution.

Note that the submission length has a limit of six pages, in contrast to the two to four pages of traditional tool demo papers. The expectation is that authors use the space to discuss artefact motivation, design, and use cases in much more detail. For example, a use case would be well illustrated by a demo scenario with screenshots.

****Replication and Negative Results Papers (RENE) http://www.ieee-scam.org/2019/#renecall

The 19th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) will be hosting a Replication and Negative Result (RENE) track for the first time in 2019. This track provides a venue for researchers to submit papers reporting (1) replications of previous empirical studies (including controlled experiments, case studies, and surveys) and (2) important and relevant negative or null results (i.e., results that failed to show an effect, but help to eliminate useless hypotheses, therefore reorienting researchers on more promising research paths) related to source code analysis and manipulation (see list of topics in Technical Research Track).

*Replications studies*: The papers in this category must go beyond simply re-implementing an algorithm and/or re-running the artifacts provided by the original paper. Such submissions should apply the approach on at least a partially new data sets (open-source or proprietary). This also means that it is possible to use available infrastructures to conduct measurements and experiments but with different/extended datasets and different conditions, scenarios, etc. Replication studies can either strengthen the results of the original study by increasing external validity with additional data or provide new insights into the variables that may impact the results. A replication paper should clearly report on results that the authors were able to reproduce as well as on the aspects of the work that were irreproducible.

*Negative results papers*: In this category we seek papers that report on negative results. We seek negative results for all types of software engineering research related to source code and manipulation (qualitative, quantitative, case study, experiment, etc.). Negative results are important contributions to scientific knowledge because they allow us to prune our hypothesis space. As Walter Tichy writes, "Negative results, if trustworthy, are extremely important for narrowing down the search space. They eliminate useless hypotheses and thus reorient and speed up the search for better approaches."

*** Proceedings

All accepted papers from both tracks will appear in the proceedings which will be available through the IEEE Digital Library.

*** Special Issue

A set of the best papers from both tracks of SCAM 2019 will be invited to be considered for revision, extension, and publication in a special issue of Journal of Systems and Software (pending final approval).

*** Committees

General Chair Chanchal Roy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Research Track Program Co-Chairs Yoshiki Higo, Osaka University, Japan Alexander Serebrenik, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

Replication and Negative Results Track Co-Chairs Xin Peng, Fudan University, China Foutse Khomh, École Polytechnique, Canada

Engineering Track Program Co-Chairs Nikolaos Tsantalis, Concordia University, Canada Hitesh Sajnani, Microsoft Inc, USA

Proceedings Co-Chairs Manar Alalfi, Ryerson University, Canada Kevin Schneider, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Local Chair Paige Rodeghero, Clemson University, USA

Finance Chair Dave Binkley, Loyola University, USA

Awards Committee Co-Chairs Sibylle Schupp, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany Neil Ernst, University of Victoria, Canada Arpad Beszedes, University of Szeged, Hungary David Shepherd, ABB Corporate Research, USA

Publicity Chair Banani Roy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Social Media Chair Felienne Hermans, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Web Chair Masud Rahman, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Banani Roy, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Phone: 306-966-2475 Web: http://srlab-new.usask.ca/broy/