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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ganguly, Kishan Kumar, Menzies, Tim
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04509
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author Ganguly, Kishan Kumar
Menzies, Tim
author_facet Ganguly, Kishan Kumar
Menzies, Tim
contents Traditional multi-objective optimization in software engineering (SE) can be slow and complex. This paper introduces the BINGO effect: a novel phenomenon where SE data surprisingly collapses into a tiny fraction of possible solution "buckets" (e.g., only 100 used from 4,096 expected). We show the BINGO effect's prevalence across 39 optimization in SE problems. Exploiting this, we optimize 10,000 times faster than state-of-the-art methods, with comparable effectiveness. Our new algorithms (LITE and LINE), demonstrate that simple stochastic selection can match complex optimizers like DEHB. This work explains why simple methods succeed in SE-real data occupies a small corner of possibilities-and guides when to apply them, challenging the need for CPU-heavy optimization. Our data and code are public at GitHub (see anon-artifacts/bingo).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_04509
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle BINGO! Simple Optimizers Win Big if Problems Collapse to a Few Buckets
Ganguly, Kishan Kumar
Menzies, Tim
Software Engineering
Traditional multi-objective optimization in software engineering (SE) can be slow and complex. This paper introduces the BINGO effect: a novel phenomenon where SE data surprisingly collapses into a tiny fraction of possible solution "buckets" (e.g., only 100 used from 4,096 expected). We show the BINGO effect's prevalence across 39 optimization in SE problems. Exploiting this, we optimize 10,000 times faster than state-of-the-art methods, with comparable effectiveness. Our new algorithms (LITE and LINE), demonstrate that simple stochastic selection can match complex optimizers like DEHB. This work explains why simple methods succeed in SE-real data occupies a small corner of possibilities-and guides when to apply them, challenging the need for CPU-heavy optimization. Our data and code are public at GitHub (see anon-artifacts/bingo).
title BINGO! Simple Optimizers Win Big if Problems Collapse to a Few Buckets
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04509