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Precise Constraint-Based Type Inference for Java

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ECOOP 2001 — Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2072))

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Abstract

Precise type information is invaluable for analysis and optimization of object-oriented programs. Some forms of polymorphism found in object-oriented languages pose significant difficulty for type inference, in particular data polymorphism. Agesen’s Cartesian Product Algorithm (CPA) can analyze programs with parametric polymorphism in a reasonably precise and efficient manner, but CPAl oses precision for programs with data polymorphism. This paper presents a precise constraintbased type inference system for Java. It uses Data-Polymorphic CPA (DCPA), a novel constraint-based type inference algorithm which extends CPA with the ability to accurately and efficiently analyze data polymorphic programs. The system is implemented for the full Java language, and is used to statically verify the correctness of Java downcasts. Benchmark results are given which show that DCPAi s significantly more accurate than CPAan d the efficiency of DCPAis close to CPA.

Partial funding provided by NSF grants CCR-9619843 and CCR-9988491

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    Tiejun Wang & Scott F. Smith

Authors
  1. Tiejun Wang
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  2. Scott F. Smith
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Åbogade 34, 8200, Århus N, Denmark

    Jørgen Lindskov Knudsen

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wang, T., Smith, S.F. (2001). Precise Constraint-Based Type Inference for Java. In: Knudsen, J.L. (eds) ECOOP 2001 — Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2072. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45337-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45337-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42206-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45337-6

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