SHF: Small: Testing and Profiling Asynchronous Software

异步编程是一种日益流行的编程范例，面向需要执行操作以响应事件的场景。这种场景的典型例子包括在网络应用的图形用户界面中输入用户输入，或者经由服务器应用中的网络连接到达的消息。在这种情况下，在事件到达之前阻止程序执行是不可取的。事件驱动编程被广泛用于适应异步，并涉及将应用程序构造为响应检测到的事件而执行的事件处理程序的集合。然而，近年来引入并广泛采用了用于异步编程的更高级的编程语言功能。这些功能很复杂，不熟悉它们的使用可能会导致未经过充分测试的异步软件，并且可能会表现出较差的性能。现有的测试和性能分析技术不能很好地用于异步应用程序。该项目的主要目标是开发用于测试和分析异步软件的实用算法和工具。该项目更广泛的意义和重要性源于通过开发的算法和工具实现的异步软件质量的改进。该项目的技术重点是开发用于测试和分析异步软件的技术。这包括针对事件驱动的异步应用程序的反馈导向随机测试技术的设计、实现和评估。此外，研究还包括建立基于Promise的异步软件的覆盖标准，以及开发系统地探索这类程序中的执行路径的技术，目标是最大化覆盖。该项目还包括设计、实现和评估分析工具，用于检测异步计算的次优调度导致性能下降的情况。这项研究的目标是用JavaScript编程语言编写的软件，在这种情况下，由于在语言级别上没有并发性，异步编程是必要的。总而言之，开发的技术通过为程序员提供测试和检测性能瓶颈的合适工具，促进了更可靠和更高效的异步软件的开发。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Asynchronous programming is an increasingly popular programming paradigm that targets scenarios where actions need to be performed in response to events. Typical examples of such scenarios include user input being entered in the graphical user interface of a web application, or messages arriving via network connections in a server application. In such scenarios, is undesirable for program execution to block until an event arrives. Event-driven programming is widely used to accommodate asynchrony, and involves structuring an application as a collection of event handlers that are executed in response to detected events. However, recent years have seen the introduction, and broad adoption, of more advanced programming-language features for asynchronous programming. These features are complex, and lack of familiarity with their use may lead to asynchronous software that is insufficiently well-tested, and that may exhibit poor performance. Existing techniques for testing and performance analysis do not work well for asynchronous applications. The main goal of this project is the development of practical algorithms and tools for testing and profiling asynchronous software. The project's broader significance and importance follows from improvements in the quality of asynchronous software that are enabled by the developed algorithms and tools.The technical focus of this project is on the development of techniques for testing and profiling asynchronous software. This includes the design, implementation, and evaluation of feedback-directed random-testing techniques for event-driven asynchronous applications. In addition, the research includes the establishment of coverage criteria for promise-based asynchronous software and the development of techniques for systematically exploring the execution paths in such programs with the objective of maximizing coverage. The project also includes the design, implementation, and evaluation of profiling tools for detecting situations where suboptimal scheduling of asynchronous computations causes performance degradation. The research targets software written in the JavaScript programming language, a setting where asynchronous programming is practiced out of necessity due to the absence of concurrency at the language level. Together, the developed techniques facilitate the development of more reliable and efficient asynchronous software, by providing programmers with suitable tools for testing and detecting performance bottlenecks.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.