mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

TBar: Revisiting Template-based Automated Program Repair

arXiv 1903.08409 ↗First posted 20 Mar 2019cs.SEcited by 64

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Abstract (arXiv)

We revisit the performance of template-based APR to build comprehensive knowledge about the effectiveness of fix patterns, and to highlight the importance of complementary steps such as fault localization or donor code retrieval. To that end, we first investigate the literature to collect, summarize and label recurrently-used fix patterns. Based on the investigation, we build TBar, a straightforward APR tool that systematically attempts to apply these fix patterns to program bugs. We thoroughly evaluate TBar on the Defects4J benchmark. In particular, we assess the actual qualitative and quantitative diversity of fix patterns, as well as their effectiveness in yielding plausible or correct patches. Eventually, we find that, assuming a perfect fault localization, TBar correctly/plausibly fixes 74/101 bugs. Replicating a standard and practical pipeline of APR assessment, we demonstrate that TBar correctly fixes 43 bugs from Defects4J, an unprecedented performance in the literature (including all approaches, i.e., template-based, stochastic mutation-based or synthesis-based APR).

Key facts. Cited by 64 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 20 Mar 2019.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 4; 2022: 0; 2023: 11; 2024: 20; 2025: 16; 2026: 13.

64 papers.

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  1. 2024Agentless: Demystifying LLM-based Software Engineering Agentscited by 400
  2. 2024RepairAgent: An Autonomous, LLM-Based Agent for Program Repaircited by 225
  3. 2023Keep the Conversation Going: Fixing 162 out of 337 bugs for 0.42 each using ChatGPTcited by 125
  4. 2024CodeR: Issue Resolving with Multi-Agent and Task Graphscited by 89
  5. 2021CURE: Code-Aware Neural Machine Translation for Automatic Program Repaircited by 85
  6. 2024DebugBench: Evaluating Debugging Capability of Large Language Modelscited by 74
  7. 2021A Syntax-Guided Edit Decoder for Neural Program Repaircited by 57
  8. 2023Copiloting the Copilots: Fusing Large Language Models with Completion Engines for Automated Program Repaircited by 55
  9. 2023Conversational Automated Program Repaircited by 41
  10. 2024UniDebugger: Hierarchical Multi-Agent Framework for Unified Software Debuggingcited by 35
  11. 2023Natural Language Generation and Understanding of Big Code for AI-Assisted Programming: A Reviewcited by 32
  12. 2024HDLdebugger: Streamlining HDL debugging with Large Language Modelscited by 25
38 more
  1. 2024Rango: Adaptive Retrieval-Augmented Proving for Automated Software Verificationcited by 25
  2. 2023ITER: Iterative Neural Repair for Multi-Location Patchescited by 16
  3. 2025Understanding Automated Program Repair Agents Through the Lens of Traceability: An Empirical Studycited by 16
  4. 2023BEAGLE: Forensics of Deep Learning Backdoor Attack for Better Defensecited by 15
  5. 2023KNOD: Domain Knowledge Distilled Tree Decoder for Automated Program Repaircited by 13
  6. 2024COAST: Enhancing the Code Debugging Ability of LLMs through Communicative Agent Based Data Synthesiscited by 13
  7. 2024Aligning the Objective of LLM-based Program Repaircited by 12
  8. 2023Invalidator: Automated Patch Correctness Assessment via Semantic and Syntactic Reasoningcited by 11
  9. 2024Enhanced Automated Code Vulnerability Repair using Large Language Modelscited by 10
  10. 2024Enhancing Automated Program Repair with Solution Designcited by 8
  11. 2025Dissecting the SWE-Bench Leaderboards: Profiling Submitters and Architectures of LLM- and Agent-Based Repair Systemscited by 8
  12. 2023Revisiting the Plastic Surgery Hypothesis via Large Language Modelscited by 7
  13. 2024Automated Program Repair: Emerging trends pose and expose problems for benchmarkscited by 7
  14. 2024Can GPT-O1 Kill All Bugs? An Evaluation of GPT-Family LLMs on QuixBugscited by 7
  15. 2025The Art of Repair: Optimizing Iterative Program Repair with Instruction-Tuned Modelscited by 7
  16. 2025A Comprehensive Empirical Evaluation of Agent Frameworks on Code-centric Software Engineering Taskscited by 7
  17. 2025Repair-R1: Better Test Before Repaircited by 6
  18. 2023Exploring the Limits of ChatGPT in Software Security Applicationscited by 5
  19. 2024Towards Reliable Evaluation of Neural Program Repair with Natural Robustness Testingcited by 5
  20. 2024Memory-Efficient Large Language Models for Program Repair with Semantic-Guided Patch Generationcited by 5
  21. 2021Predicting Patch Correctness Based on the Similarity of Failing Test Casescited by 4
  22. 2024Integrating Various Software Artifacts for Better LLM-based Bug Localization and Program Repaircited by 4
  23. 2024QEDCartographer: Automating Formal Verification Using Reward-Free Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
  24. 2025Evaluating the Generalizability of LLMs in Automated Program Repaircited by 3
  25. 2025DynaFix: Iterative Automated Program Repair Driven by Execution-Level Dynamic Informationcited by 3
  26. 2025Fast, Fine-Grained Equivalence Checking for Neural Decompilerscited by 2
  27. 2025RA-Gen: A Controllable Code Generation Framework Using ReAct for Multi-Agent Task Executioncited by 2
  28. 2026VulnResolver: A Hybrid Agent Framework for LLM-Based Automated Vulnerability Issue Resolutioncited by 2
  29. 2021A Fault Localization and Debugging Support Framework driven by Bug Tracking Datacited by 1
  30. 2024PatUntrack: Automated Generating Patch Examples for Issue Reports without Tracked Insecure Codecited by 1
  31. 2025A Multi-Dataset Evaluation of Models for Automated Vulnerability Repaircited by 1
  32. 2025From Empirical Evaluation to Context-Aware Enhancement: Repairing Regression Errors with LLMscited by 1
  33. 2025Accelerating Automatic Program Repair with Dual Retrieval-Augmented Fine-Tuning and Patch Generation on Large Language Modelscited by 1
  34. 2025Beyond Function-Level Search: Repository-Aware Dual-Encoder Code Retrieval with Adversarial Verificationcited by 1
  35. 2026RAVEN: Agentic RAG for Automated Vulnerability Repaircited by 1
  36. 2026Multi-Perspective Agentic Program Repair via Code Property Graphs and Temporal Execution Graphscited by 1
  37. 2023Contrastive Prompt Learning-based Code Search based on Interaction Matrixcited by 0
  38. 2024Peer-aided Repairer: Empowering Large Language Models to Repair Advanced Student Assignmentscited by 0

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