Applying Jlint to Space Exploration Software

Abstract. Java is a very successful programming language which is also becoming widespread in embedded systems, where software correctness is critical. Jlint is a simple but highly efficient static analyzer that checks a Java program for several common errors, such as null pointer exceptions, and overflow errors. It also includes checks for multi-threading problems, such as deadlocks and data races. The case study described here shows the effectiveness of Jlint in finding certain faults, including multi-threading problems. Analyzing the reasons for false positives in the multi-threading warnings gives an insight into design patterns commonly used in multi-threaded code. The results show that a few analysis techniques are sufficient to avoid almost all false positives. These techniques include investigating all possible callers and a few code idioms. Verifying the correct application of these patterns is still crucial, because their correct usage is not trivial.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: VMCAI
• Authors: Cyrille Artho, Klaus Havelund
• Keywords: False Positives, Multi-threading Problems, Null Pointer Exceptions, Software Engineering, VMCAI 2004