Practical Compile Time Analyses for Evolving C Systems

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In large and evolving software systems, tools such as compilers, testers, and debuggers require that static information be maintained and updated. Data flow analysis algorithms, which gather facts about use and definition of data in programs, are a major source of this information. Incremental update algorithms, which only calculate information affected by the program changes, avoiding total recalculation, efficiently provide consistent documentation for a large, evolving software system. In previous research, implementation of incremental analysis for C systems has been hampered by the imprecision of the known techniques for determining pointer-induced aliases. This research aims at developing more precise interprocedural analyses of C systems, based on the conditional analysis approach of our pointer aliasing approximation algorithm. Specifically, it is planned to: o optimize the interprocedural pointer aliasing approximation algorithm, o develop a new, interprocedural modification side effect analysis algorithm for C-like languages and design other flow sensitive data flow analyses (e.g., interprocedural reaching definitions, static program slicing), o build a second prototype incremental MOD analyzer for C systems and profile its performance on actual C systems, and o study issues involved in scaling up for programming-in-the-large.