A bottom-up pointer analysis using the update history

Pointer analysis is an important part for the source code analysis of C programs. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up and flow- and context-sensitive pointer analysis algorithm, where bottom-up refers to the ability to perform the analysis from callee modules to caller modules. Our approach is bas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Information and software technology 2009-04, Vol.51 (4), p.691-707
Main Authors: Kang, Hyun-Goo, Han, Taisook
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
C (programming language)
Computer memory
Computer programming
Computer programs
Flow- and context-sensitive pointer analysis
Modular
Modular analysis
Modules
Pilots
Representations
Side effects
Software
Strong update
Studies
Type system
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Summary:Pointer analysis is an important part for the source code analysis of C programs. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up and flow- and context-sensitive pointer analysis algorithm, where bottom-up refers to the ability to perform the analysis from callee modules to caller modules. Our approach is based on a new modular pointer analysis domain named the update history that can abstract memory states of a procedure independently of the information on aliases between memory locations and keep the information on the order of side effects performed. Such a memory representation not only enables the analysis to be formalized as a bottom-up analysis, but also helps the analysis to effectively identify killed side effects and relevant alias contexts. The experiments performed on a pilot implementation of the method shows that our approach is effective for improving the precision of a client analysis.
ISSN:0950-5849
1873-6025
DOI:10.1016/j.infsof.2008.11.003