41,060 research outputs found
A General Framework for Automatic Termination Analysis of Logic Programs
This paper describes a general framework for automatic termination analysis
of logic programs, where we understand by ``termination'' the finitenes s of
the LD-tree constructed for the program and a given query. A general property
of mappings from a certain subset of the branches of an infinite LD-tree into a
finite set is proved. From this result several termination theorems are
derived, by using different finite sets. The first two are formulated for the
predicate dependency and atom dependency graphs. Then a general result for the
case of the query-mapping pairs relevant to a program is proved (cf.
\cite{Sagiv,Lindenstrauss:Sagiv}). The correctness of the {\em TermiLog} system
described in \cite{Lindenstrauss:Sagiv:Serebrenik} follows from it. In this
system it is not possible to prove termination for programs involving
arithmetic predicates, since the usual order for the integers is not
well-founded. A new method, which can be easily incorporated in {\em TermiLog}
or similar systems, is presented, which makes it possible to prove termination
for programs involving arithmetic predicates. It is based on combining a finite
abstraction of the integers with the technique of the query-mapping pairs, and
is essentially capable of dividing a termination proof into several cases, such
that a simple termination function suffices for each case. Finally several
possible extensions are outlined
Transfer Function Synthesis without Quantifier Elimination
Traditionally, transfer functions have been designed manually for each
operation in a program, instruction by instruction. In such a setting, a
transfer function describes the semantics of a single instruction, detailing
how a given abstract input state is mapped to an abstract output state. The net
effect of a sequence of instructions, a basic block, can then be calculated by
composing the transfer functions of the constituent instructions. However,
precision can be improved by applying a single transfer function that captures
the semantics of the block as a whole. Since blocks are program-dependent, this
approach necessitates automation. There has thus been growing interest in
computing transfer functions automatically, most notably using techniques based
on quantifier elimination. Although conceptually elegant, quantifier
elimination inevitably induces a computational bottleneck, which limits the
applicability of these methods to small blocks. This paper contributes a method
for calculating transfer functions that finesses quantifier elimination
altogether, and can thus be seen as a response to this problem. The
practicality of the method is demonstrated by generating transfer functions for
input and output states that are described by linear template constraints,
which include intervals and octagons.Comment: 37 pages, extended version of ESOP 2011 pape
An Effective Fixpoint Semantics for Linear Logic Programs
In this paper we investigate the theoretical foundation of a new bottom-up
semantics for linear logic programs, and more precisely for the fragment of
LinLog that consists of the language LO enriched with the constant 1. We use
constraints to symbolically and finitely represent possibly infinite
collections of provable goals. We define a fixpoint semantics based on a new
operator in the style of Tp working over constraints. An application of the
fixpoint operator can be computed algorithmically. As sufficient conditions for
termination, we show that the fixpoint computation is guaranteed to converge
for propositional LO. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to define an
effective fixpoint semantics for linear logic programs. As an application of
our framework, we also present a formal investigation of the relations between
LO and Disjunctive Logic Programming. Using an approach based on abstract
interpretation, we show that DLP fixpoint semantics can be viewed as an
abstraction of our semantics for LO. We prove that the resulting abstraction is
correct and complete for an interesting class of LO programs encoding Petri
Nets.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic
Programmin
Modular Construction of Shape-Numeric Analyzers
The aim of static analysis is to infer invariants about programs that are
precise enough to establish semantic properties, such as the absence of
run-time errors. Broadly speaking, there are two major branches of static
analysis for imperative programs. Pointer and shape analyses focus on inferring
properties of pointers, dynamically-allocated memory, and recursive data
structures, while numeric analyses seek to derive invariants on numeric values.
Although simultaneous inference of shape-numeric invariants is often needed,
this case is especially challenging and is not particularly well explored.
Notably, simultaneous shape-numeric inference raises complex issues in the
design of the static analyzer itself.
In this paper, we study the construction of such shape-numeric, static
analyzers. We set up an abstract interpretation framework that allows us to
reason about simultaneous shape-numeric properties by combining shape and
numeric abstractions into a modular, expressive abstract domain. Such a modular
structure is highly desirable to make its formalization and implementation
easier to do and get correct. To achieve this, we choose a concrete semantics
that can be abstracted step-by-step, while preserving a high level of
expressiveness. The structure of abstract operations (i.e., transfer, join, and
comparison) follows the structure of this semantics. The advantage of this
construction is to divide the analyzer in modules and functors that implement
abstractions of distinct features.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455
Constraint LTL Satisfiability Checking without Automata
This paper introduces a novel technique to decide the satisfiability of
formulae written in the language of Linear Temporal Logic with Both future and
past operators and atomic formulae belonging to constraint system D (CLTLB(D)
for short). The technique is based on the concept of bounded satisfiability,
and hinges on an encoding of CLTLB(D) formulae into QF-EUD, the theory of
quantifier-free equality and uninterpreted functions combined with D. Similarly
to standard LTL, where bounded model-checking and SAT-solvers can be used as an
alternative to automata-theoretic approaches to model-checking, our approach
allows users to solve the satisfiability problem for CLTLB(D) formulae through
SMT-solving techniques, rather than by checking the emptiness of the language
of a suitable automaton A_{\phi}. The technique is effective, and it has been
implemented in our Zot formal verification tool.Comment: 39 page
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