Incremental data flow analysis via dominator and attribute update

Abstract

We present an algorithm for updating data flow information derived from a program, in response to program edits. Our algorithm, applicable to intraprocedural or interprocedural data flow problems, is more general than previous methods because it can update any monotone data flow problem defined on a reducible flow graph and can handle arbitrary program edits.Rather than design yet another special-purpose data flow update algorithm, we show how to reduce the class of data flow problems to another class of problems which already has a fast update algorithm.More specifically, we reduce a monotone data flow problem formulated for solution using Graham-Wegman elimination [12] to the problem of constructing and decorating an attributed tree structurally isomorphic to the dominator tree of the program flow graph.To update this dominator tree in response to program changes, we first show how to express domination in terms of two local properties of nodes and edges in the flow graph -niceness and deepness. Domination is then updated in response to an edge addition or deletion by repeatedly performing two local operations on the dominator tree, each operation restoring the local properties violated by the edge change. Second, we extend Reps' attributed tree update techniques (19,21,20] and his complexity analysis, to update attribute values in response to changes in this structure.

Reviser: efficiently updating IDE-/IFDS-based data-flow analyses in response to incremental program changes

“…These approaches however do not easily translate to arbitrary IDE problems. Carroll and Ryder [5] incrementalize arbitrary elimination-based data flow algorithms by reducing them to the domintator-tree problem and applying a variant of Reps' optimal attribute parse-tree update algorithm. In general, Ryder and Burke [4] have surveyed many older approaches which are limited to lowering lattice values in IDE problems leading to results that differ from a complete recomputation.…”

An Incremental Points-to Analysis with CFL-Reachability

“…Some incremental analyses use the elimination method [3,5], some are based on the technique of restarting iterations [20] and some are hybrids of the two techniques [18]. A comparison of incremental iterative algorithm can be found in [4].…”

“…Incremental analysis is especially important for large projects in a software development environment where it is necessary to maintain a global analysis in the presence of small and frequent edits. Several solutions have been proposed by using incremental elimination [3,5], restarting iteration [20], a combination of these two techniques [18], timestamp-based backtracing [13], and logic program evaluation [24]. In this paper, we introduce an incremental approach for points-to analyses based on CFL-reachability.…”

Automatic Incrementalization of Prolog Based Static Analyses

“…A variety of incremental algorithms have been developed for data flow analysis problems. Some of them use the elimination method [6,8,25]; others are based on restarting iterations [24], while both techniques are combined in [22]. A comparison of incremental iterative algorithms for data flow analysis can be found in [7].…”