Semantic characterisation of dead control-flow paths

Many program verification, testing and performance prediction techniques rely on analysis of statically-identified control-flow paths. However, some such paths may be 'dead' because they can never be followed at run time, and should therefore be excluded from analysis. It is shown how the formal semantics of those statements comprising a path provides a sound theoretical foundation for identification of dead paths

[1]  Ralph-Johan Back,et al.  Reasoning algebraically about loops , 1999, Acta Informatica.

[2]  Shari Lawrence Pfleeger,et al.  Software Engineering: The Production of Quality Software , 1987 .

[3]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  Predicate Calculus and Program Semantics , 1989, Texts and Monographs in Computer Science.

[4]  Per Stenström,et al.  Integrating Path and Timing Analysis Using Instruction-Level Simulation Techniques , 1998, LCTES.

[5]  A. Tarski.  A LATTICE-THEORETICAL FIXPOINT THEOREM AND ITS APPLICATIONS , 1955 .

[6]  Doron A. Peled,et al.  Path Exploration Tool , 1999, TACAS.

[7]  Ken Robinson,et al.  Specification statements and refinements , 1987 .

[8]  Sharad Malik,et al.  Cinderella: A Retargetable Environment for Performance Analysis of Real-Time Software , 1997, Euro-Par.

[9]  Peter Altenbernd,et al.  On the false path problem in hard real-time programs , 1996, Proceedings of the Eighth Euromicro Workshop on Real-Time Systems.

[10]  Rajiv Gupta,et al.  Refining data flow information using infeasible paths , 1997, ESEC '97/FSE-5.

[11]  Jakob Engblom,et al.  Modeling complex flows for worst-case execution time analysis , 2000, Proceedings 21st IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium.

[12]  Ralph-Johan Back,et al.  Refinement Calculus: A Systematic Introduction , 1998 .

[13]  S. L. Pfleeger,et al.  Model of software effort and productivity , 1991 .

[14]  Carroll Morgan,et al.  Programming from specifications , 1990, Prentice Hall International Series in computer science.

[15]  David B. Whalley,et al.  Automatic Detection and Exploitation of Branch Constraints for Timing Analysis , 2002, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[16]  Bernard Carré.  Program analysis and verification , 1989 .

[17]  Ian J. Hayes,et al.  A sequential real-time refinement calculus , 2001, Acta Informatica.

[18]  Jan Gustafsson,et al.  Deriving Annotations for Tight Calculation of Execution Time , 1997, Euro-Par.

[19]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  A Discipline of Programming , 1976 .

[20]  Ralph-Johan Back.  Refinement Calculus, Lattices and Higher Order Logic , 1992, NATO ASI PDC.

[21]  Colin J. Fidge,et al.  The deadline command , 1999, IEE Proc. Softw..

[22]  Greg Nelson,et al.  A generalization of Dijkstra's calculus , 1989, ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst..