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Automatic detection of immutable fields in Java

Authors:

Marina Biberstein,

Bilha MendelsonAuthors Info & Claims

CASCON '00: Proceedings of the 2000 conference of the Centre for Advanced Studies on Collaborative research

Page 10

Published: 13 November 2000 Publication History

Abstract

This paper introduces techniques to detect mutability of fields and classes in Java. A variable is considered to be mutable if a new value is stored into it, as well as if any of its reachable variables is mutable. We present a static flow-sensitive analysis algorithm which can be applied to any Java component. The analysis classifies fields and classes as either mutable or immutable. In order to facilitate openworld analysis, the algorithm identifies situations that expose variables to potential modification by code outside the component, as well as situations where variables are modified by the analyzed code. We also present an implementation of the analysis which focuses on detecting mutability of class variables, so as to avoid isolation problems. The implementation incorporates intra- and inter-procedural data-flow analyses and is shown to be highly scalable. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithms.

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Cited By

Makki MVan Landuyt DLagaisse BJoosen WKuchen HSinger J(2021)Shared memory protection in a multi-tenant JVMProceedings of the 18th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Managed Programming Languages and Runtimes10.1145/3475738.3480714(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3475738.3480714
Helm DKübler FReif MEichberg MMezini MDevanbu PCohen MZimmermann T(2020)Modular collaborative program analysis in OPALProceedings of the 28th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering10.1145/3368089.3409765(184-196)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3368089.3409765
Rama GKomondoor RSharma H(2018)Refinement in object-sensitivity points-to analysis via slicingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/32765122:OOPSLA(1-27)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3276512
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Index Terms

Automatic detection of immutable fields in Java
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language types
        Object oriented languages
2. Theory of computation
  1. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program reasoning
      1. Program analysis
    2. Program semantics

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cover image DL Hosted proceedings

CASCON '00: Proceedings of the 2000 conference of the Centre for Advanced Studies on Collaborative research

November 2000

227 pages

Sponsors

IBM Canada: IBM Canada
NRC: National Research Council - Canada

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IBM Press

Publication History

Published: 13 November 2000

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Overall Acceptance Rate 24 of 90 submissions, 27%

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Cited By

Makki MVan Landuyt DLagaisse BJoosen WKuchen HSinger J(2021)Shared memory protection in a multi-tenant JVMProceedings of the 18th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Managed Programming Languages and Runtimes10.1145/3475738.3480714(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3475738.3480714
Helm DKübler FReif MEichberg MMezini MDevanbu PCohen MZimmermann T(2020)Modular collaborative program analysis in OPALProceedings of the 28th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering10.1145/3368089.3409765(184-196)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3368089.3409765
Rama GKomondoor RSharma H(2018)Refinement in object-sensitivity points-to analysis via slicingProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/32765122:OOPSLA(1-27)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3276512
Potanin AÖstlund JZibin YErnst M(2013)ImmutabilityAliasing in Object-Oriented Programming10.5555/2554511.2554525(233-269)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2554511.2554525
Sewe AMezini MSarimbekov AAnsaloni DBinder WRicci NGuyer S(2012)new Scala() instance of JavaACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2426642.225901047:11(97-108)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2426642.2259010
Huang WMilanova ADietl WErnst M(2012)Reim & ReImInferACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2398857.238468047:10(879-896)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2398857.2384680
Huang WMilanova ADietl WErnst MLeavens GDwyer M(2012)Reim & ReImInferProceedings of the ACM international conference on Object oriented programming systems languages and applications10.1145/2384616.2384680(879-896)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2384616.2384680
Sewe AMezini MSarimbekov AAnsaloni DBinder WRicci NGuyer SVechev MMcKinley K(2012)new Scala() instance of JavaProceedings of the 2012 international symposium on Memory Management10.1145/2258996.2259010(97-108)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2258996.2259010
Nelson SPearce DNoble J(2010)Understanding the impact of collection contracts on designProceedings of the 48th international conference on Objects, models, components, patterns10.5555/1894386.1894390(61-78)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1894386.1894390
Artzi SKieżun AQuinonez JErnst M(2009)Parameter reference immutabilityAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-008-0043-716:1(145-192)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-008-0043-7
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