Checking Event-Based Specifications in Java Systems

Abstract

One of today's challenges is producing reliable software in the face of an increasing number of interacting components. Our system CHET lets developers define specifications describing how a component should be used and checks these specifications in real Java systems. CHET is able to check a wide range of complex conditions in large software systems without programmer intervention. It does this by doing a complete and detailed flow analysis of the software and using this analysis to build a simpler, model program. This paper explores the motivations for CHET, the specification techniques that are used, and the methodology used in statically checking that the specifications are obeyed in a system.