Book•
Two approaches to interprocedural data flow analysis
14 Sep 2011-
About: The article was published on 2011-09-14 and is currently open access. It has received 657 citations till now.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: A new kind of graph to represent programs is introduced, called a system dependence graph, which extends previous dependence representations to incorporate collections of procedures (with procedure calls) rather than just monolithic programs.
Abstract: The notion of a program slice, originally introduced by Mark Weiser, is useful in program debugging, automatic parallelization, and program integration. A slice of a program is taken with respect to a program point p and a variable x; the slice consists of all statements of the program that might affect the value of x at point p. This paper concerns the problem of interprocedural slicing—generating a slice of an entire program, where the slice crosses the boundaries of procedure calls. To solve this problem, we introduce a new kind of graph to represent programs, called a system dependence graph, which extends previous dependence representations to incorporate collections of procedures (with procedure calls) rather than just monolithic programs. Our main result is an algorithm for interprocedural slicing that uses the new representation. (It should be noted that our work concerns a somewhat restricted kind of slice: rather than permitting a program to b e sliced with respect to program point p and an arbitrary variable, a slice must be taken with respect to a variable that is defined or used at p.)The chief difficulty in interprocedural slicing is correctly accounting for the calling context of a called procedure. To handle this problem, system dependence graphs include some data dependence edges that represent transitive dependences due to the effects of procedure calls, in addition to the conventional direct-dependence edges. These edges are constructed with the aid of an auxiliary structure that represents calling and parameter-linkage relationships. This structure takes the form of an attribute grammar. The step of computing the required transitive-dependence edges is reduced to the construction of the subordinate characteristic graphs for the grammar's nonterminals.
1,663 citations
25 Jan 1995
TL;DR: The paper shows how a large class of interprocedural dataflow-analysis problems can be solved precisely in polynomial time by transforming them into a special kind of graph-reachability problem.
Abstract: The paper shows how a large class of interprocedural dataflow-analysis problems can be solved precisely in polynomial time by transforming them into a special kind of graph-reachability problem. The only restrictions are that the set of dataflow facts must be a finite set, and that the dataflow functions must distribute over the confluence operator (either union or intersection). This class of probable problems includes—but is not limited to—the classical separable problems (also known as “gen/kill” or “bit-vector” problems)—e.g., reaching definitions, available expressions, and live variables. In addition, the class of problems that our techniques handle includes many non-separable problems, including truly-live variables, copy constant propagation, and possibly-uninitialized variables.Results are reported from a preliminary experimental study of C programs (for the problem of finding possibly-uninitialized variables).
1,154 citations
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: This thesis presents an automatic partial evaluator for the Ansi C programming language, and proves that partial evaluation at most can accomplish linear speedup, and develops an automatic speedup analysis.
Abstract: Software engineers are faced with a dilemma. They want to write general and wellstructured programs that are flexible and easy to maintain. On the other hand, generality has a price: efficiency. A specialized program solving a particular problem is often significantly faster than a general program. However, the development of specialized software is time-consuming, and is likely to exceed the production of today’s programmers. New techniques are required to solve this so-called software crisis. Partial evaluation is a program specialization technique that reconciles the benefits of generality with efficiency. This thesis presents an automatic partial evaluator for the Ansi C programming language. The content of this thesis is analysis and transformation of C programs. We develop several analyses that support the transformation of a program into its generating extension. A generating extension is a program that produces specialized programs when executed on parts of the input. The thesis contains the following main results. • We develop a generating-extension transformation, and describe specialization of the various parts of C, including pointers and structures. • We develop constraint-based inter-procedural pointer and binding-time analysis. Both analyses are specified via non-standard type inference systems, and implemented by constraint solving. • We develop a side-effect and an in-use analysis. These analyses are developed in the classical monotone data-flow analysis framework. Some intriguing similarities with constraint-based analysis are observed. • We investigate separate and incremental program analysis and transformation. Realistic programs are structured into modules, which break down inter-procedural analyses that need global information about functions. • We prove that partial evaluation at most can accomplish linear speedup, and develop an automatic speedup analysis. • We study the stronger transformation technique driving, and initiate the development of generating super-extensions. The developments in this thesis are supported by an implementation. Throughout the chapters we present empirical results.
1,009 citations
01 Jun 1988
TL;DR: A new kind of graph to represent programs is introduced, called a system dependence graph, which extends previous dependence representations to incorporate collections of procedures (with procedure calls) rather than just monolithic programs.
Abstract: A slice of a program with respect to a program point p and variable x consists of all statements of the program that might affect the value of x at point p. This paper concerns the problem of interprocedural slicing — generating a slice of an entire program, where the slice crosses the boundaries of procedure calls. To solve this problem, we introduce a new kind of graph to represent programs, called a system dependence graph, which extends previous dependence representations to incorporate collections of procedures (with procedure calls) rather than just monolithic programs. Our main result is an algorithm for interprocedural slicing that uses the new representation.The chief difficulty in interprocedural slicing is correctly accounting for the calling context of a called procedure. To handle this problem, system dependence graphs include some data-dependence edges that represent transitive dependencies due to the effects of procedure calls, in addition to the conventional direct-dependence edges. These edges are constructed with the aid of an auxiliary structure that represents calling and parameter-linkage relationships. This structure takes the form of an attribute grammar. The step of computing the required transitive-dependence edges is reduced to the construction of the subordinate characteristic graphs for the grammar's nonterminals.
686 citations
01 May 1997
TL;DR: This paper extends previous work on efficient path profiling to flow sensitive profiling, which associates hardware performance metrics with a path through a procedure, and describes a data structure, the calling context tree, that efficiently captures calling contexts for procedure-level measurements.
Abstract: A program profile attributes run-time costs to portions of a program's execution. Most profiling systems suffer from two major deficiencies: first, they only apportion simple metrics, such as execution frequency or elapsed time to static, syntactic units, such as procedures or statements; second, they aggressively reduce the volume of information collected and reported, although aggregation can hide striking differences in program behavior.This paper addresses both concerns by exploiting the hardware counters available in most modern processors and by incorporating two concepts from data flow analysis--flow and context sensitivity--to report more context for measurements. This paper extends our previous work on efficient path profiling to flow sensitive profiling, which associates hardware performance metrics with a path through a procedure. In addition, it describes a data structure, the calling context tree, that efficiently captures calling contexts for procedure-level measurements.Our measurements show that the SPEC95 benchmarks execute a small number (3--28) of hot paths that account for 9--98% of their L1 data cache misses. Moreover, these hot paths are concentrated in a few routines, which have complex dynamic behavior.
557 citations
References
More filters
01 Oct 1973
TL;DR: A technique is presented for global analysis of program structure in order to perform compile time optimization of object code generated for expressions that includes constant propagation, common subexpression elimination, elimination of redundant register load operations, and live expression analysis.
Abstract: A technique is presented for global analysis of program structure in order to perform compile time optimization of object code generated for expressions. The global expression optimization presented includes constant propagation, common subexpression elimination, elimination of redundant register load operations, and live expression analysis. A general purpose program flow analysis algorithm is developed which depends upon the existence of an "optimizing function." The algorithm is defined formally using a directed graph model of program flow structure, and is shown to be correct. Several optimizing functions are defined which, when used in conjunction with the flow analysis algorithm, provide the various forms of code optimization. The flow analysis algorithm is sufficiently general that additional functions can easily be defined for other forms of global code optimization.
960 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1972
TL;DR: This book is a classic text on sequential program verification; it has been widely translated from the original Hebrew and is much in demand among graduate students in the field of computer science.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
Defining his subject as making the art of verifying computer programs (debugging) into a science, the author addresses both practical and theoretical aspects of the process. A self-contained treatment, it includes selected concepts of computability theory and mathematical logic, and each chapter concludes with bibliographic remarks, references, and problems. This book is a classic text on sequential program verification; it has been widely translated from the original Hebrew and is much in demand among graduate students in the field of computer science (it may also be used as an undergraduate text for advanced classes). Unabridged republication of the edition published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1974. 77 Figures.
735 citations
IBM1
TL;DR: The global data relationships in a program can be exposed and codified by the static analysis methods described in this paper.
Abstract: The global data relationships in a program can be exposed and codified by the static analysis methods described in this paper. A procedure is given which determines all the definitions which can possibly “reach” each node of the control flow graph of the program and all the definitions that are “live” on each edge of the graph. The procedure uses an “interval” ordered edge listing data structure and handles reducible and irreducible graphs indistinguishably.
417 citations