Research Article

A static analyzer for finding dynamic programming errors

  1. William R. Bush*,
  2. Jonathan D. Pincus,
  3. David J. Sielaff

Article first published online: 2 MAY 2000

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-024X(200006)30:7<775::AID-SPE309>3.0.CO;2-H

Issue

Software: Practice and Experience

Software: Practice and Experience

Volume 30, Issue 7, pages 775–802, June 2000

Additional Information

How to Cite

Bush, W. R., Pincus, J. D. and Sielaff, D. J. (2000), A static analyzer for finding dynamic programming errors. Software: Practice and Experience, 30: 775–802. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-024X(200006)30:7<775::AID-SPE309>3.0.CO;2-H

Author Information

  1. Intrinsa Corporation, Mountain View, CA, U.S.A.

*1739 Lexington Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94402-4024, U.S.A.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 2 MAY 2000
  2. Article first published online: 2 MAY 2000
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 28 DEC 1999
  4. Manuscript Revised: 27 DEC 1999
  5. Manuscript Received: 9 NOV 1998

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Keywords:

  • program analysis;
  • program error checking

Abstract

There are important classes of programming errors that are hard to diagnose, both manually and automatically, because they involve a program's dynamic behavior. This article describes a compile-time analyzer that detects these dynamic errors in large, real-world programs. The analyzer traces execution paths through the source code, modeling memory and reporting inconsistencies. In addition to avoiding false paths through the program, this approach provides valuable contextual information to the programmer who needs to understand and repair the defects. Automatically-created models, abstracting the behavior of individual functions, allow inter-procedural defects to be detected efficiently. A product built on these techniques has been used effectively on several large commercial programs. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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