VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Siddharth Bhat
dblp:208/1904
· DBLP profile ↗
9ranked-venue papers
3as first author
8since 2021 · last 2025
0009-0007-6410-3681ORCID · corroborated
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 7 · 2 first-author · 7 since 2021Systems, architecture and hardware · 2 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021Theory of computation · 2 · 1 first-author · 2 since 2021Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 1 · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Towards Neural Synthesis for SMT-Assisted Proof-Oriented ProgrammingabstractProof-oriented programs mix computational content with proofs of program correctness. However, the human effort involved in programming and proving is still substantial, despite the use of Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) solvers to automate proofs in languages such as F*. Seeking to spur research on using AI to automate the construction of proof-oriented programs, we curate a dataset of 600K lines of open-source F* programs and proofs, including software used in production systems ranging from Windows and Linux, to Python and Firefox. Our dataset includes around 32K top-level F* definitions, each representing a type-directed program and proof synthesis problem-producing a definition given a formal specification expressed as an F* type. We provide a program-fragment checker that queries F* to check the correctness of candidate solutions. We believe this is the largest corpus of SMT-assisted program proofs coupled with a reproducible program-fragment checker. Grounded in this dataset, we investigate the use of AI to synthesize programs and their proofs in F*, with promising results. Our main finding in that the performance of fine-tuned smaller language models (such as Phi-2 or StarCoder) compare favorably with large language models (such as GPT-4), at a much lower computational cost. We also identify various type-based retrieval augmentation techniques and find that they boost performance significantly. With detailed error analysis and case studies, we identify potential strengths and weaknesses of models and techniques and suggest directions for future improvements. Saikat Chakraborty 0001, Gabriel Ebner, Siddharth Bhat, Sarah Fakhoury, Sakina Fatima, Shuvendu K. Lahiri, Nikhil Swamy |
ICSE | 3 |
| 2025 | Certified Decision Procedures for Width-Independent Bitvector PredicatesabstractBitvectors are foundational for automated reasoning. A few interactive theorem provers (ITP), such as Lean, have strong support for deciding fixed-width bitvector predicates by means of bitblasting. However, even these ITPs provide little automation for width-independent bitvector predicates. To fill this gap, we contribute novel, mechanized decision procedures for width-independent bitvector predicates in Lean. Classical algorithms to decide fragments of width-independent bitvector theory can be viewed from the lens of model checking, where the formula corresponds to an automaton and the correctness of the formula is a safety property. However, we cannot currently use this lens in mechanized proofs, as there are no executable, fast, and formally verified model checking algorithms that can be used interactively from within ITPs. To fill this gap, we mechanize key algorithms in the model checking literature: k -induction, automata reachability, automata emptiness checking, and automata minimization. Using these mechanized algorithms, we contribute scalable, mechanized, decision procedures for width-independent bitvector predicates. Furthermore, for controlled fragments of mixtures of arithmetic and bitwise operations which occur in the deobfuscation literature, we mechanize a recent fast algorithm (MBA-Blast), which outperforms the more general procedures on this fragment. Finally, we evaluate our decision procedures on benchmarks from classical compiler problems such as Hacker’s Delight and the LLVM peephole optimizer, as well as on equivalence checking problems for program obfuscation. Our tools solve 100% of Hacker’s Delight, two of our tools solve 100% of the deobfuscation dataset, and up to 27% of peephole rewrites extracted from LLVM’s peephole rewriting test suite. Our new decision procedures provide a push-button experience for width-independent bitvector reasoning in interactive theorem provers, and, more broadly, pave the way for foundational algorithms for fast, formally verified model checking. Siddharth Bhat, Léo Stefanesco, Chris Hughes, Tobias Grosser |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 1 |
| 2025 | Interactive Bitvector Reasoning using Verified Bit-BlastingabstractBit-blasting SMT solvers enable efficient automatic reasoning about bitvectors, which are fundamental for the verification of compiler backends, cryptographic algorithms, hardware designs and other soft- or hardware tasks. Despite the clear demand for efficient bitvector reasoning infrastructure and the impressive advancements in state-of-the-art bit-blasting SMT solvers such as Bitwuzla, effective bitvector reasoning within interactive theorem provers (ITPs) remains a challenge, hindering their use for mechanized proofs. Incomplete bitvector libraries, unavailable or only partially integrated decision procedures, complex and hard-to-bitblast operations, and limited integration with the host language prevent the wide adoption of bitvector reasoning in proving contexts. We introduce bv_decide : the first end-to-end verified bitblaster designed for interactive bitvector reasoning in a dependently-typed ITP . Our verified bitblaster is scalable, comes with a complete end-to-end proof (trusting only the Lean compiler and kernel), and is available as a proof tactic that allows interactive reasoning right from within a programming language, in our case Lean. We use Lean’s Functional But In-Place (FBIP) paradigm to efficiently encode our core data structures (e.g., AIGs), demonstrating that fast execution of an SMT solver need not come at the expense of rigorous formalization. We enable dependable interactive verification of user-written-code by basing Lean’s C-Style standard dataypes UInt/SInt on our bitvector type, adding a lowering from enums and structs to bitvectors to enable transparent bit-blasting support for composed types, and by offering an interactive tactic that either solves a goal or provides a counter-example. Moreover, we present the design of Lean’s canonical bitvector library, which supports all operations (with reasoning principles) for the SMT-LIB 2.7 standard (including overflow modeling), is fast-to-execute, and offers a comprehensive API and automation for bit-width-independent reasoning. We thoroughly evaluate our bit-blaster on a comprehensive set of benchmarks, including the full SMT-LIB dataset, where bv_decide solves more theorems than the state-of-the-art in verified bit-blasting, CoqQFBV. We also verify over 7000 SMT statements extracted from LLVM, providing the largest mechanized verification of LLVM rewrites to date, to our knowledge. By making bit-blasting bitvector reasoning a polished, well-supported, and interactive feature of modern ITPs, we enable effective, dependable white-box reasoning for bitvector-level verification. Henrik Böving, Siddharth Bhat, Luisa Cicolini, Alex C. Keizer, Léon Frénot, Abdalrhman Mohamed, Léo Stefanesco, Harun Khan 0001, Joshua Clune, Clark W. Barrett, Tobias Grosser |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 2 |
| 2024 | Verifying Peephole Rewriting in SSA Compiler IRsabstractDespite significant investment in software infrastructure, machine learning systems, runtimes and compilers do not compose properly. We propose a new design aiming at providing unprecedented degrees of modularity, composability and genericity. This paper discusses a structured approach to the construction of domain-specific code generators for tensor compilers, with the stated goal of improving the productivity of both compiler engineers and end-users. The approach leverages the natural structure of tensor algebra. It has been the main driver for the design of progressive lowering paths in \MLIR. The proposed abstractions and transformations span data structures and control flow with both functional (SSA form) and imperative (side-effecting) semantics. We discuss the implications of this infrastructure on compiler construction and present preliminary experimental results. Siddharth Bhat, Alex C. Keizer, Chris Hughes, Andres Goens, Tobias Grosser |
ITP | 1 |
| 2024 | Transforming Optimization Problems into Disciplined Convex Programming Form
Ramon Fernández Mir, Paul B. Jackson, Siddharth Bhat, Andres Goens, Tobias Grosser |
CICM | 3 |
| 2024 | Guided Equality SaturationabstractRewriting is a principled term transformation technique with uses across theorem proving and compilation. In theorem proving, each rewrite is a proof step; in compilation, rewrites optimize a program term. While developing rewrite sequences manually is possible, this process does not scale to larger rewrite sequences. Automated rewriting techniques, like greedy simplification or equality saturation, work well without requiring human input. Yet, they do not scale to large search spaces, limiting the complexity of tasks where automated rewriting is effective, and meaning that just a small increase in term size or rewrite length may result in failure. This paper proposes a semi-automatic rewriting technique as a means to scale rewriting by allowing human insight at key decision points. Specifically, we propose guided equality saturation that embraces human guidance when fully automated equality saturation does not scale. The rewriting is split into two simpler automatic equality saturation steps: from the original term to a human-provided intermediate guide , and from the guide to the target. Complex rewriting tasks may require multiple guides, resulting in a sequence of equality saturation steps. A guide can be a complete term, or a sketch containing undefined elements that are instantiated by the equality saturation search. Such sketches may be far more concise than complete terms. We demonstrate the generality and effectiveness of guided equality saturation using two case studies. First, we integrate guided equality saturation in the Lean 4 proof assistant. Proofs are written in the style of textbook proof sketches, as a series of calculations omitting details and skipping steps. These proofs conclude in less than a second instead of minutes when compared to unguided equality saturation, and can find complex proofs that previously had to be done manually. Second, in the compiler of the RISE array language, where unguided equality saturation fails to perform optimizations within an hour and using 60 GB of memory, guided equality saturation performs the same optimizations with at most 3 guides, within seconds using less than 1 GB memory. Thomas Koehler 0005, Andres Goens, Siddharth Bhat, Tobias Grosser, Philip W. Trinder, Michel Steuwer |
Proc. ACM Program. Lang. | 3 |
| 2022 | QSSA: an SSA-based IR for Quantum computingabstractQuantum computing hardware has progressed rapidly. Simultaneously, there has been a proliferation of programming languages and program optimization tools for quantum computing. Existing quantum compilers use intermediate representations (IRs) where quantum programs are described as circuits. Such IRs fail to leverage existing work on compiler optimizations. In such IRs, it is non-trivial to statically check for physical constraints such as the no-cloning theorem, which states that qubits cannot be copied. We introduce QSSA, a novel quantum IR based on static single assignment (SSA) that enables decades of research in compiler optimizations to be applied to quantum compilation. QSSA models quantum operations as being side-effect-free. The inputs and outputs of the operation are in one-to-one correspondence; qubits cannot be created or destroyed. As a result, our IR supports a static analysis pass that verifies no-cloning at compile-time. The quantum circuit is fully encoded within the def-use chain of the IR, allowing us to leverage existing optimization passes on SSA representations such as redundancy elimination and dead-code elimination. Running our QSSA-based compiler on the QASMBench and IBM Quantum Challenge datasets, we show that our optimizations perform comparably to IBM’s Qiskit quantum compiler infrastructure. QSSA allows us to represent, analyze, and transform quantum programs using the robust theory of SSA representations, bringing quantum compilation into the realm of well-understood theory and practice. Anurudh Peduri, Siddharth Bhat, Tobias Grosser |
CC | 2 |
| 2022 | Lambda the Ultimate SSA: Optimizing Functional Programs in SSAabstractStatic Single Assignment (SSA) is the workhorse of modern optimizing compilers for imperative programming languages. However, functional languages have been slow to adopt SSA and prefer to use intermediate representations based on minimal lambda calculi due to SSA’s inability to express higher-order constructs. We exploit a new SSA construct — regions — in order to express functional optimizations via classical SSA-based reasoning. Region optimization currently relies on ad-hoc analyses and transformations on imperative programs. These ad-hoc transformations are sufficient for imperative languages as regions are used in a limited fashion. In contrast, we use regions pervasively to model sub-expressions in our functional IR. This motivates us to systematize region optimizations. We extend classical SSA reasoning to regions for functional-style analyses and transformations. We implement a new SSA + regions based backend for LEAN4, a theorem prover that implements a purely functional, dependently typed programming language. Our backend is feature-complete and handles all constructs of LEAN4’s functional intermediate representation $\lambda _{\mathbf{rc}}$ within the SSA framework. We evaluate our proposed region optimizations by optimizing $\lambda_{\mathbf{rc}}$ within an SSA + regions based framework implemented in MLIR and demonstrating performance parity with the current LEAN4 backend. We believe our work will pave the way for a unified optimization framework capable of representing, analyzing, and optimizing both functional and imperative languages. Siddharth Bhat, Tobias Grosser |
CGO | 1 |
| 2017 | Optimizing geometric multigrid method computation using a DSL approachabstractThe Geometric Multigrid (GMG) method is widely used in numerical analysis to accelerate the convergence of partial differential equations solvers using a hierarchy of grid discretizations. Multiple grid sizes and recursive expression of multigrid cycles make the task of program optimization tedious. A high-level language that aids domain experts for GMG with effective optimization and parallelization support is thus valuable. Vinay Vasista, Kumudha Narasimhan, Siddharth Bhat, Uday Bondhugula |
SC | 3 |