Code analysis and CS-XML

Author

Olson, Kara A. ; Overstreet, C.M. ; Derrick, E. Joseph

Author_Institution

Old Dominion Univ. Norfolk, Norfolk

fYear

2007

fDate

9-12 Dec. 2007

Firstpage

756

Lastpage

761

Abstract

The automated analysis of model specifications is an area that historically receives little attention in the simulation research community but which can offer significant benefits. A common objective in simulation is enhanced understanding of a system; model specification analysis can provide insights not otherwise available as well as time and cost savings in model development. The condition specification (CS) (Overstreet and Nance 1985) represents a model specification form that is amenable to analysis. This paper discusses the motivations for and the creation of CS-XML; a translator for CSes into XML-based condition specifications; and a translator for CS-XML into fully-executable C/C++ code. It presents initial results from analysis efforts using CodeSurfer (Anderson et al. 2003), a software static analysis tool, and discusses future work. In conclusion, it is argued that the CS-XML can provide an essential foundation for Web services that support the analysis of discrete-event simulation models.

Keywords

XML; formal specification; program diagnostics; reverse engineering; C/C++ code; CS-XML; code analysis; condition specification; model specification; software static analysis tool; system understanding; Analytical models; Application software; Computational modeling; Computer science; Costs; Markup languages; OWL; Software standards; Web sites; XML;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Simulation Conference, 2007 Winter

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1306-5

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-1306-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WSC.2007.4419670

Filename

4419670