Incremental State-Space Exploration for Programs with Dynamically Allocated Data

Google Tech Talks June, 4 2008 ABSTRACT We present a novel technique that speeds up state-space exploration (SSE) for evolving programs with dynamically allocated data. SSE is the essence of explicit-state model checking and an increasingly popular method for automating test generation. Traditional, non-incremental SSE takes one version of a program and systematically explores the states reachable during the program's executions to nd property violations. Incremental SSE considers several versions that arise during program evolution: reusing the results of SSE for one version can speed up SSE for the next version, since state spaces of consecutive program versions can have significant similarities. We have implemented our technique in two model checkers: Java PathFinder and the J-Sim state-space explorer. The experimental results on 24 program evolutions and exploration changes show that for non-initial runs our technique speeds up SSE in 22 cases from 6.43% to 68.62% (with median of 42.29%) and slows down SSE in only two cases for -4.71% and -4.81%. Joint work with Steven Lauterburg, Ahmed Sobeih, and Mahesh Viswanathan Speaker: Darko Marinov Darko Marinov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He obtained his Ph.D. from MIT in 2005. His main research interests are in Software Engineering, with focus on improving software reliability using software testing and model checking. His work is supported by NSF and Microsoft.