Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Abstract Domain for Objects in Dynamic Programming Languages

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Formal Methods. FM 2019 International Workshops (FM 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 12233))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 368 Accesses

Abstract

Dynamic languages, such as JavaScript, PHP, Python or Ruby, provide a memory model for objects data structures allowing programmers to dynamically create, manipulate, and delete objects’ properties. Moreover, in dynamic languages it is possible to access and update properties by using strings: this represents a hard challenge for static analysis. In this paper, we exploit the finite state automata abstract domain, approximating strings, in order to define a novel abstract domain for objects. We design an abstract interpreter useful to analyze objects in a toy language, inspired by real-word dynamic programming languages. We then show, by means of minimal yet expressive examples, the precision of the proposed abstract domain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    We assume that all negations ! have been removed using DeMorgan’s laws and usual arithmetic laws: \( {\texttt {!}}\,(\mathsf {b}_1 \, || \, \mathsf {b}_2) \equiv {\texttt {!}}\,\mathsf {b}_1 \, {\texttt { \& \& }} \, {\texttt {!}}\mathsf {b}_2\), \({\texttt {!}}\,(\mathsf {a}_1< \mathsf {a}_2) \equiv (\mathsf {a}_2 < \mathsf {a}_1 \, || \, \mathsf {a}_2 \, {\texttt {==}} \, \mathsf {a}_1)\), etc.

References

  1. Arceri, V., Maffeis, S.: Abstract domains for type juggling. Electr. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 331, 41–55 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Arceri, V., Mastroeni, I.: Static program analysis for string manipulation languages. In: VPT 2019 (2019). https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.299.5

  3. Balakrishnan, G., Reps, T.: Recency-abstraction for heap-allocated storage. In: Yi, K. (ed.) SAS 2006. LNCS, vol. 4134, pp. 221–239. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11823230_15

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Bartzis, C., Bultan, T.: Widening arithmetic automata. In: Alur, R., Peled, D.A. (eds.) CAV 2004. LNCS, vol. 3114, pp. 321–333. Springer, Heidelberg (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27813-9_25

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Cortesi, A., Olliaro, M.: M-string segmentation: a refined abstract domain for string analysis in C programs. In: TASE 2018 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Costantini, G., Ferrara, P., Cortesi, A.: A suite of abstract domains for static analysis of string values. Softw. Pract. Exp. 45(2), 245–287 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cousot, P., Cousot, R.: Abstract interpretation: a unified lattice model for static analysis of programs by construction or approximation of fixpoints. In: POPL 1977 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Cousot, P., Halbwachs, N.: Automatic discovery of linear restraints among variables of a program. In: POPL (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Davis, M.D., Sigal, R., Weyuker, E.J.: Computability, Complexity, and Languages: Fundamentals of Theoretical Computer Science. Academic Press Professional, Inc., New York (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  10. D’Silva, V.: Widening for Automata. MsC Thesis, Inst. Fur Inform. - UZH (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hauzar, D., Kofron, J.: Framework for static analysis of PHP applications. In: ECOOP 2015 (2015). https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2015.689

  12. Hopcroft, J.E., Ullman, J.D.: Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1979)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Jensen, S.H., Møller, A., Thiemann, P.: Type analysis for javascript. In: SAS 2009 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03237-0_17

  14. Kashyap, V., et al.: JSAI: a static analysis platform for javascript. In: FSE 2014 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lee, H., Won, S., Jin, J., Cho, J., Ryu, S.: SAFE: formal specification and implementation of a scalable analysis framework for ECMAScript. In: FOOL (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Nielson, F., Nielson, H.R., Hankin, C.: Principles of Program Analysis. Springer, Heidelberg (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03811-6

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Wilhelm, R., Sagiv, M., Reps, T.: Shape analysis. In: Watt, D.A. (ed.) CC 2000. LNCS, vol. 1781, pp. 1–17. Springer, Heidelberg (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46423-9_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Vincenzo Arceri, Michele Pasqua & Isabella Mastroeni

Authors
  1. Vincenzo Arceri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michele Pasqua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Isabella Mastroeni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vincenzo Arceri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Emil Sekerinski

  2. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Nelma Moreira

  3. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    José N. Oliveira

  4. Argo Ai, Munich, Germany

    Daniel Ratiu

  5. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Riccardo Guidotti

  6. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Marie Farrell

  7. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Matt Luckcuck

  8. University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Diego Marmsoler

  9. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    José Campos

  10. University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Troy Astarte

  11. Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France

    Laure Gonnord

  12. Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

    Antonio Cerone

  13. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Luis Couto

  14. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Brijesh Dongol

  15. University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Martin Kutrib

  16. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Pedro Monteiro

  17. Airbus Operations S.A.S., Toulouse, France

    David Delmas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Arceri, V., Pasqua, M., Mastroeni, I. (2020). An Abstract Domain for Objects in Dynamic Programming Languages. In: Sekerinski, E., et al. Formal Methods. FM 2019 International Workshops. FM 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12233. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54997-8_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54997-8_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-54996-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-54997-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation