AbstractTraditional interprocedural data-flow analysis is performed on whole programs; however, such whole-program analysis is not feasible for large or incomplete programs. We propose fragment data-flow analysis as an alternative analysis approach, which addresses the problem of computing data-flow information for a specific program fragment. The analysis is parameterized by the additional information available about the rest of the program. We describe two frameworks for interprocedural flow-sensitive fragment analysis, the relationship between fragment analysis and whole-program analysis, and the requirements ensuring fragment analysis safety and feasibility. We propose an application of fragment analysis as a second analysis phase after an inexpensive flowinsensitive whole-program analysis, in order to obtain better information for important program fragments. We also describe the design of two fragment analyses derived from an already existing whole-program flowand context-sensitive pointer alias analysis for C programs and present empirical evaluation of their cost and precision. Our experiments show evidence of dramatically better precision obtainable at a practical cost.
RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights.You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
