Title :
Interprocedural def-use associations for C systems with single level pointers
Author :
Pande, Hemant D. ; Landi, William A. ; Ryder, Barbara G.
Author_Institution :
Siemens Corp. Res. Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA
fDate :
5/1/1994 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Def-use analysis links possible value-setting statements for a variable (i.e. definitions) to potential value-fetches (i.e. uses) of that value. This paper describes the first algorithm that calculates accurate interprocedural def-use associations in C software systems. Our algorithm accounts for program-point-specific pointer-induced aliases, though it is currently limited to programs using a single level of indirection. We prove the NP-hardness of the interprocedural reaching definitions problem and describe the approximations made by our polynomial-time algorithm. Initial empirical results are also presented
Keywords :
C language; computational complexity; data structures; program compilers; program diagnostics; software engineering; C software systems; NP-hardness; indirection; interprocedural def-use associations; interprocedural reaching definitions problem; polynomial-time algorithm; program-point-specific pointer-induced aliases; single level pointers; static analysis; value-fetches; value-setting statements; Algorithm design and analysis; Arithmetic; Computer science; Debugging; Information analysis; Performance analysis; Polynomials; Software systems; Software tools; System testing;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on