Liberate Abstract Garbage Collection from the Stack by Decomposing the Heap

Abstract

garbage collection and the use of pushdown systems each enhance the precision of control-flow analysis (CFA). However, their respective needs conflict: abstract garbage collection requires the stack but pushdown systems obscure it. Though several existing techniques address this conflict, none take full advantage of the underlying interplay. In this paper, we dissolve this conflict with a technique which exploits the precision of pushdown systems to decompose the heap across the continuation. This technique liberates abstract garbage collection from the stack, increasing its effectiveness and the compositionality of its host analysis. We generalize our approach to apply compositional treatment to abstract timestamps which induces the context abstraction of m-CFA, an abstraction more precise than k-CFA's for many common programming patterns.

Trace-based control-flow analysis

“…For each abstraction that we define in the rest of the paper, we derive the inclusion properties that are satisfied by the abstract semantics. These inclusions naturally lead to the design of analysers in the style of big-step static interpreters [4,9], that follow the structure of programs.…”

“…In this łabstracting abstract machinesž (AAM) research track, the lowlevel elements of abstract machinesÐenvironments, stores, continuation stacksÐmust be abstracted. A related approach has been applied to definitional (big-step) interpreters [4,9].…”