Lazy Type Inference and Program Analysis

Abstract Approaches to static analysis based on nonstandard type systems have received considerable interest recently. Most work has concentrated on the relationship between such analyses and abstract interpretation. In this paper, we focus on the problem of producing efficient algorithms from such type-based analyses. The key idea is the introduction of laziness into type inference. We present the basic notions in the context of a higher-order strictness analysis of list-processing functions. We also present a general framework for program analysis based on these ideas. We conclude with some experimental results.