Towards a Gold Standard for Points-to Analysis

Points-to analysis is a static program analysis that computes reference informationfor a given input program. It serves as input to many client applicationsin optimizing compilers and software engineering tools. Unfortunately, the Gold Standard – i.e., the exact reference information for a given pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gutzmann, Tobias
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, fysik och matematik, DFM 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-7381
Description
Summary:Points-to analysis is a static program analysis that computes reference informationfor a given input program. It serves as input to many client applicationsin optimizing compilers and software engineering tools. Unfortunately, the Gold Standard – i.e., the exact reference information for a given program– is impossible to compute automatically for all but trivial cases, and thus, little can been said about the accuracy of points-to analysis. This thesis aims at paving the way towards a Gold Standard for points-to analysis. For this, we discuss theoretical implications and practical challenges that occur when comparing results obtained by different points-to analyses. We also show ways to improve points-to analysis by different means, e.g., combining different analysis implementations, and a novel approach to path sensitivity. We support our theories with a number of experiments.