Article

Efficiency, precision, simplicity, and generality in interprocedural data flow analysis: resurrecting the classical call strings method

Authors:

Uday P. Khedker,

Bageshri KarkareAuthors Info & Claims

CC'08/ETAPS'08: Proceedings of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software 17th international conference on Compiler construction

Pages 213 - 228

Published: 29 March 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The full call strings method is the most general, simplest, and most precise method of performing context sensitive interprocedural data flow analysis. It remembers contexts using call strings. For full precision, all call strings up to a prescribed length must be constructed. Two limitations of this method are (a) it cannot be used for frameworks with infinite lattices, and (b) the prescribed length is quadratic in the size of the lattice resulting in an impractically large number of call strings. These limitations have resulted in a proliferation of ad hoc methods which compromise on generality, precision, or simplicity.

We propose a variant of the classical full call strings method which reduces the number of call strings, and hence the analysis time, by orders of magnitude as corroborated by our empirical measurements. It reduces the worst case call string length from quadratic in the size of the lattice to linear. Further, unlike the classical method, this worst case length need not be reached. Our approach retains the precision, generality, and simplicity of call strings method without imposing any additional constraints. It can accommodate demand-driven approximations and hence can be used for frameworks with infinite lattices.

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Cited By

Thakur MNandivada VPouchet LJimborean A(2020)Mix your contexts well: opportunities unleashed by recent advances in scaling context-sensitivityProceedings of the 29th International Conference on Compiler Construction10.1145/3377555.3377902(27-38)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3377555.3377902
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Thakur MNandivada VAmaral JKulkarni M(2019)Compare less, defer more: scaling value-contexts based whole-program heap analysesProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Compiler Construction10.1145/3302516.3307359(135-146)Online publication date: 16-Feb-2019
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Efficiency, precision, simplicity, and generality in interprocedural data flow analysis: resurrecting the classical call strings method
1. Theory of computation
  1. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program reasoning

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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

CC'08/ETAPS'08: Proceedings of the Joint European Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software 17th international conference on Compiler construction

March 2008

307 pages

ISBN:3540787909

Editor:
Laurie Hendren
McGill University, School of Computer Science, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 29 March 2008

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Cited By

Thakur MNandivada VPouchet LJimborean A(2020)Mix your contexts well: opportunities unleashed by recent advances in scaling context-sensitivityProceedings of the 29th International Conference on Compiler Construction10.1145/3377555.3377902(27-38)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3377555.3377902
Thakur MNandivada V(2019)PYEACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/333779441:3(1-37)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3337794
Thakur MNandivada VAmaral JKulkarni M(2019)Compare less, defer more: scaling value-contexts based whole-program heap analysesProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Compiler Construction10.1145/3302516.3307359(135-146)Online publication date: 16-Feb-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3302516.3307359
Jeon MJeong SOh H(2018)Precise and scalable points-to analysis via data-driven context tunnelingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/32765102:OOPSLA(1-29)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3276510
Kanvar VKhedker U(2017)"What's in a name?" going beyond allocation site names in heap analysisACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3156685.309226752:9(92-103)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2017
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Kanvar VKhedker UKirsch CTitzer B(2017)"What's in a name?" going beyond allocation site names in heap analysisProceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on Memory Management10.1145/3092255.3092267(92-103)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3092255.3092267
Mangal RNaik MYang H(2014)A Correspondence between Two Approaches to Interprocedural Analysis in the Presence of JoinProceedings of the 23rd European Symposium on Programming Languages and Systems - Volume 841010.1007/978-3-642-54833-8_27(513-533)Online publication date: 5-Apr-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-642-54833-8_27
Padhye RKhedker ULam PSherman E(2013)Interprocedural data flow analysis in Soot using value contextsProceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on State Of the Art in Java Program analysis10.1145/2487568.2487569(31-36)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2013
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Khedker UMycroft ARawat P(2012)Liveness-Based pointer analysisProceedings of the 19th international conference on Static Analysis10.5555/2414936.2414957(265-282)Online publication date: 11-Sep-2012
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Gudka KHarris TEisenbach S(2012)Lock inference in the presence of large librariesProceedings of the 26th European conference on Object-Oriented Programming10.1007/978-3-642-31057-7_15(308-332)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2012
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