Heap assumptions on demand

Abstract

Termination of a heap-manipulating program generally depends on preconditions that express heap assumptions (i.e., assertions describing reachability, aliasing, separation and sharing in the heap). We present an algorithm for the inference of such preconditions. The algorithm exploits a unique interplay between counterexample-producing abstract termination checker and shape analysis. The shape analysis produces heap assumptions on demand to eliminate counterexamples, i.e., non-terminating abstract computations. The experiments with our prototype implementation indicate its practical potential. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.