The Pointer Assertion Logic Engine

Forfattere

  • Anders Møller
  • Michael I. Schwartzbach

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/brics.v7i39.20205

Resumé

We present a new framework for verifying partial specifications of programs in order to catch type and memory errors and check data structure invariants. Our technique can verify a large class of data structures, namely all those that can be expressed as graph types. Earlier versions were restricted to simple
special cases such as lists or trees. Even so, our current implementation is as fast as the previous specialized tools.
Programs are annotated with partial specifications expressed in Pointer Assertion Logic, a new notation for expressing properties of the program store. We work in the logical tradition by encoding the programs and partial specifications as formulas in monadic second-order logic. Validity of these formulas
is checked by the MONA tool, which also can provide explicit counterexamples to invalid formulas.
Other work with similar goals is based on more traditional program analyses, such as shape analysis. That approach requires explicit introduction of an appropriate operational semantics along with a proof of correctness whenever
a new data structure is being considered. In comparison, our approach only requires the data structure to be abstractly described in Pointer Assertion Logic.

Downloads

Publiceret

2000-06-09

Citation/Eksport

Møller, A., & Schwartzbach, M. I. (2000). The Pointer Assertion Logic Engine. BRICS Report Series, 7(39). https://doi.org/10.7146/brics.v7i39.20205

Nummer

Nr. 39 (2000): RS-39 The Pointer Assertion Logic Engine

Sektion

Artikler

Licens

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).