The reduced product of abstract domains and the combination of decision procedures

Abstract

The algebraic/model theoretic design of static analyzers uses abstract domains based on representations of properties and pre-calculated property transformers. It is very efficient. The logical/proof theoretic approach uses SMT solvers and computation on-the-fly of property transformers. It is very expressive. We propose a combination of the two approaches to reach the sweet spot best adapted to a specific application domain in the precision/cost spectrum. The proposed combination uses an iterated reduction to combine abstractions. The key observation is that the Nelson-Oppen procedure which decides satisfiability in a combination of logical theories by exchanging equalities and disequalities computes a reduced product (after the state is enhanced with some new "observations" corresponding to alien terms). By abandoning restrictions ensuring completeness (such as disjointness, convexity, stably-infiniteness or shininess, etc) we can even broaden the application scope of logical abstractions for static analysis (which is incomplete anyway). We also introduce a semantics based on multiple interpretations to deal with the soundness of that combinations on a formal basis. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.