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Main Authors: Zhang, Bowen, Chen, Wei, Chiu, Hung-Chun, Zhang, Charles
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12841
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author Zhang, Bowen
Chen, Wei
Chiu, Hung-Chun
Zhang, Charles
author_facet Zhang, Bowen
Chen, Wei
Chiu, Hung-Chun
Zhang, Charles
contents Static analysis techniques enhance the security, performance, and reliability of programs by analyzing and portraiting program behaviors without the need for actual execution. In essence, static analysis takes the Intermediate Representation (IR) of a target program as input to retrieve essential program information and understand the program. However, there is a lack of systematic analysis on the benefit of IR for static analysis, besides serving as an information provider. In general, a modern static analysis framework should possess the ability to conduct diverse analyses on different languages, producing reliable results with minimal time consumption, and offering extensive customization options. In this survey, we systematically characterize these goals and review the potential solutions from the perspective of IR. It can serve as a manual for learners and practitioners in the static analysis field to better understand IR design. Meanwhile, numerous research opportunities are revealed for researchers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_12841
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unveiling the Power of Intermediate Representations for Static Analysis: A Survey
Zhang, Bowen
Chen, Wei
Chiu, Hung-Chun
Zhang, Charles
Programming Languages
Software Engineering
Static analysis techniques enhance the security, performance, and reliability of programs by analyzing and portraiting program behaviors without the need for actual execution. In essence, static analysis takes the Intermediate Representation (IR) of a target program as input to retrieve essential program information and understand the program. However, there is a lack of systematic analysis on the benefit of IR for static analysis, besides serving as an information provider. In general, a modern static analysis framework should possess the ability to conduct diverse analyses on different languages, producing reliable results with minimal time consumption, and offering extensive customization options. In this survey, we systematically characterize these goals and review the potential solutions from the perspective of IR. It can serve as a manual for learners and practitioners in the static analysis field to better understand IR design. Meanwhile, numerous research opportunities are revealed for researchers.
title Unveiling the Power of Intermediate Representations for Static Analysis: A Survey
topic Programming Languages
Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12841