2007 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Array Abstractions from Proofs
Authors : Ranjit Jhala, Kenneth L. McMillan
Published in: Computer Aided Verification
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
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We present a technique for using infeasible program paths to automatically infer
Range Predicates
that describe properties of unbounded array segments. First, we build proofs showing the infeasibility of the paths, using axioms that precisely encode the high-level (but informal) rules with which programmers reason about arrays. Next, we mine the proofs for Craig Interpolants which correspond to predicates that refute the particular counterexample path. By embedding the predicate inference technique within a Counterexample-Guided Abstraction-Refinement (CEGAR) loop, we obtain a method for verifying data-sensitive safety properties whose precision is tailored in a program- and property-sensitive manner. Though the axioms used are simple, we show that the method suffices to prove a variety of array-manipulating programs that were previously beyond automatic model checkers.