research-article

Formal verification of object layout for c++ multiple inheritance

Authors:

Tahina Ramananandro,

Gabriel Dos Reis,

Xavier LeroyAuthors Info & Claims

POPL '11: Proceedings of the 38th annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT symposium on Principles of programming languages

Pages 67 - 80

https://doi.org/10.1145/1926385.1926395

Published: 26 January 2011 Publication History

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Abstract

Object layout - the concrete in-memory representation of objects - raises many delicate issues in the case of the C++ language, owing in particular to multiple inheritance, C compatibility and separate compilation. This paper formalizes a family of C++ object layout schemes and mechanically proves their correctness against the operational semantics for multiple inheritance of Wasserrab et al. This formalization is flexible enough to account for space-saving techniques such as empty base class optimization and tail-padding optimization. As an application, we obtain the first formal correctness proofs for realistic, optimized object layout algorithms, including one based on the popular "common vendor" Itanium C++ application binary interface. This work provides semantic foundations to discover and justify new layout optimizations; it is also a first step towards the verification of a C++ compiler front-end.

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Cited By

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Monteiro FGadelha MCordeiro L(2021)Model checking C++ programsSoftware Testing, Verification and Reliability10.1002/stvr.1793Online publication date: 8-Sep-2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/stvr.1793
Stroustrup B(2020)Thriving in a crowded and changing world: C++ 2006–2020Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/33863204:HOPL(1-168)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3386320
Lochbihler A(2018)Mechanising a Type-Safe Model of Multithreaded Java with a Verified CompilerJournal of Automated Reasoning10.1007/s10817-018-9452-x61:1-4(243-332)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10817-018-9452-x
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Formal verification of object layout for c++ multiple inheritance

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Reviews

Reviewer: Scott Arthur Moody

Efficient language translation, optimized code generation, and runtime memory layout are cornerstones of modern computer language compilers. Squeezing a user's data structures, especially with C++ multiple inheritance, into fewer but efficiently accessed bits leads to smaller footprints needed for newer mobile and embedded applications. However, proving that the compiler is managing the correct bit layout has been lacking for C++. This paper provides a formal verification approach based on semantic foundations that justify new layout optimizations. It introduces families of various memory layout algorithms and describes them by means of an operational semantics notation that is complex but still independent of the target architecture. These extensive formal layout details, provided using the Coq proof tools and the resulting semantic preservation correctness proofs, are a valuable contribution to the compiler field. Compiler technology has come a long way from the classic optimization steps of the basic language for implementation of system software (BLISS) compiler or the famous Nicholas Wirth Pascal compilers (with comments written in German). Though this paper provides some overview of previous C++ memory layout solutions, the authors' main contribution is their formal semantic proofs for complex multiple inheritance memory layouts. Online Computing Reviews Service

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Published In

POPL '11: Proceedings of the 38th annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT symposium on Principles of programming languages

January 2011

652 pages

ISBN:9781450304900

DOI:10.1145/1926385

General Chair:
Thomas Ball
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Program Chair:
Mooly Sagiv
Tel Aviv University, Israel

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 46, Issue 1
POPL '11
January 2011
624 pages
ISSN:0362-1340
EISSN:1558-1160
DOI:10.1145/1925844
Issue’s Table of Contents

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGACT: ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 26 January 2011

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POPL '11: The 38th Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages

January 26 - 28, 2011

Texas, Austin, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 824 of 4,130 submissions, 20%

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Monteiro FGadelha MCordeiro L(2021)Model checking C++ programsSoftware Testing, Verification and Reliability10.1002/stvr.1793Online publication date: 8-Sep-2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/stvr.1793
Stroustrup B(2020)Thriving in a crowded and changing world: C++ 2006–2020Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/33863204:HOPL(1-168)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3386320
Lochbihler A(2018)Mechanising a Type-Safe Model of Multithreaded Java with a Verified CompilerJournal of Automated Reasoning10.1007/s10817-018-9452-x61:1-4(243-332)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10817-018-9452-x
Krebbers R(2018)A Formal C Memory Model for Separation LogicJournal of Automated Reasoning10.1007/s10817-016-9369-157:4(319-387)Online publication date: 28-Dec-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10817-016-9369-1
Zakrzewski J(2018)Towards Verification of Ethereum Smart Contracts: A Formalization of Core of SolidityVerified Software. Theories, Tools, and Experiments10.1007/978-3-030-03592-1_13(229-247)Online publication date: 24-Nov-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03592-1_13
Becker HCrespo JGalowicz JHensel UHirai YKunz CNakata KSacchini JTews HTuerk T(2016)Combining Mechanized Proofs and Model-Based Testing in the Formal Analysis of a HypervisorFM 2016: Formal Methods10.1007/978-3-319-48989-6_5(69-84)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2016
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48989-6_5
Lu ZSteinmuller CMukhopadhyay S(2013)Towards Formal Verification of a Commercial Wireless Router FirmwareProceedings of the 2013 IEEE 37th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference10.1109/COMPSAC.2013.103(639-647)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2013
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Solodkyy YDos Reis GStroustrup B(2012)Open and efficient type switch for C++ACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2398857.238468647:10(963-982)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2012
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Solodkyy YDos Reis GStroustrup BLeavens GDwyer M(2012)Open and efficient type switch for C++Proceedings of the ACM international conference on Object oriented programming systems languages and applications10.1145/2384616.2384686(963-982)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2012
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Ramananandro TDos Reis GLeroy XField JHicks M(2012)A mechanized semantics for C++ object construction and destruction, with applications to resource managementProceedings of the 39th annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT symposium on Principles of programming languages10.1145/2103656.2103718(521-532)Online publication date: 25-Jan-2012
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An operational semantics and type safety prooffor multiple inheritance in C++