Efficient Detection of Errors in Java Components Using Random Environment and Restarts

Software model checkers are being used mostly to discover specific types of errors in the code, since exhaustive verification of complex programs is not possible due to state explosion. Moreover, typical model checkers cannot be directly applied to isolated components such as libraries or individual classes. A common solution is to create an abstract environment for a component to be checked. When no constraints on component's usage are defined by its developers, a natural choice is to use a universal environment that performs all possible sequences of calls of component's methods in several concurrently-running threads. However, model checking of components with a universal environment is prone to state explosion. In this paper we present a method that allows to discover at least some concurrency errors in component's code in reasonable time. The key ideas ethod are (i) use of an abstract environment that performs a random sequence of method calls in each thread, and (i...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: TACAS
• Authors: Pavel Parizek, Tomás Kalibera
• Keywords: Abstract Environment, Algorithms, Model Checker, TACAS 2010, Universal Environment