Result: Property probes: Live exploration of program analysis results.
Further Information
We present property probes , a mechanism for helping a developer explore partial program analysis results in terms of the source program interactively while the program is edited. A node locator data structure is introduced that maps between source code spans and program representation nodes, and that helps identify probed nodes in a robust way, after modifications to the source code. We have developed a client–server based tool CodeProber supporting property probes, and argue that it is very helpful in debugging and understanding program analyses. We have evaluated our tool on several languages and analyses, including a full Java compiler and a tool for intraprocedural dataflow analysis. Our performance results show that the probe overhead is negligible even when analyzing large projects. • Compilers and static analysers can be built as the composition of sub-analysis steps. • Directly observing sub-analyses is beneficial for learning and development progress. • Property probes enable a live, interactive exploration of sub-analysis steps. • CodeProber implements property probe support. Used in university courses. • Case studies and benchmarks shows potential for broader application of technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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