Specifying an invariant property (range of addresses) in the annotation in source code of the computer program

• US 7,013,460 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2001
• Issued: 03/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Thompson, Carol L., Littfin, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): INGBERG, TODD D
• Application Number:
  US09/858,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20040015897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,764 Days
• Field of Search: 717/127, 717/150, 717/126, 717/131, 717/124, 714/48, 714 51- 53, 714/720, 714717-718, 714/743, 714/799, 714/819
• US Class Current: 717/161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3612 by runtime analysis performance monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44589 Program code verification, e.g. Java bytecode verification, proof-carrying code high-level semantic checks G06F8/43; testing and debugging software G06F11/36

Abstract

Method and apparatus for verifying at runtime an invariant property of a data structure. In various example embodiments, code that verifies whether a runtime value of the data structure is consistent with the invariant property is automatically generated in response to an annotation of the data structure in the source code. In executing the program, the runtime value of the data structure is compared to the invariant property in the automatically generated code. If the runtime property is inconsistent with the invariant property, the program branches to exception handler code.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for verifying at runtime an invariant property of a data structure of a computer program, comprising:

automatically generating a first code segment that verifies a runtime value of the data structure is consistent with the invariant property in response to an annotation of the data structure that defines the invariant property of the data structure, wherein the invariant property is a range of addresses specified in the annotation in source code of the computer program;

comparing the runtime value of the data structure with the invariant property during execution of the program via execution of the first code segment, and verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the range of addresses; and

performing a programmed action if the runtime value is inconsistent with the invariant property.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid data address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of data addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the valid data address range.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid instruction address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the valid instruction address range.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the invariant property from a compiler to a code generator.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing the invariant property in a symbol table.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid data address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of data addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the valid data address range.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid instruction address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the valid instruction address range.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing in the symbol table one or more code addresses associated with one or more updates to the data structure.

13. An apparatus for verifying at runtime an invariant property of a data structure of a computer program, comprising:

means for automatically generating a first code segment that verifies a runtime value of the data structure is consistent with the invariant property in response to an annotation of the data structure that defines the invariant property of the data structure, wherein the invariant property is a range of addresses specified in the annotation in source code of the computer program;

means for comparing the runtime value of the data structure with the invariant property during execution of the program via execution of the first code segment and for verifying that the runtime value of the data structure is within the range of addresses; and

means for performing a programmed action if the runtime value is inconsistent with the invariant property.

14. A computer-implemented method for verifying at runtime an invariant property of a data structure of a computer program, comprising:

determining an invariant property of a data structure from a source code specification of the data structure and an associated specification of the invariant property in the source code, wherein the specification of the invariant property defines the invariant property without checking whether a variable used with the data structure is consistent with the invariant property, and the invariant property is a range of addresses specified in the annotation in source code of the computer program;

generating from the specification of the invariant property a first executable code segment that determines whether a value of a variable used with the data structure is consistent with the invariant property;

determining during execution of the first executable code segment whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the range of addresses; and

performing a programmed action in response to the value of the variable being outside the range of addresses.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses established during compilation of program code that instantiates the data structure.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid data address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of data addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

determining whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the valid data address range.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses established during compilation of program code that instantiates the data structure and further comprising verifying that the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the range of instruction addresses specified in source code of the computer program.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid instruction address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

determining whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the valid instruction address range.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising communicating the invariant property from a compiler to a code generator.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing the invariant property in a symbol table.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the range of addresses is a range of data addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid data address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of data addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

determining whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the valid data address range.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses established during compilation of program code that instantiates the data structure.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the range of addresses is a range of instruction addresses and further comprising:

automatically generating during compilation a valid instruction address range including an upper bound and a lower bound for the range of addresses, wherein the source code of the computer program does not include a specification of the upper bound and lower bound; and

determining whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the valid instruction address range.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing in the symbol table one or more instruction addresses at which respective updates are made to the data structure.

26. An apparatus stored on a computer readable medium and executing on a computer for verifying at runtime an invariant property of a data structure of a computer program, comprising:

means for determining an invariant property of a data structure from a source code specification of the data structure and an associated specification of the invariant property in the source code, wherein the specification of the invariant property defines the invariant property without checking whether a variable used with the data structure is consistent with the invariant property, and the invariant property is a range of addresses specified in the annotation in source code of the computer program;

means for generating from the specification of the invariant property a first executable code segment that determines whether a value of a variable used with the data structure is consistent with the invariant property;

means for determining during execution of the first executable code segment whether the value of the variable used with the data structure is within the range of addresses; and

means for performing a programmed action in response to the value of the variable being outside the range of addresses.