Time and Location

  • Date: Wednesday, August 6
  • Time: TBA
  • Location: TBA

Abstract

Control-flow analysis has been around for over four decades. Over this time period, the typical formulation has remained essentially an exhaustive analysis over whole programs—an analyzer ingests an entire higher-order program and produces a flow fact for each point therein. An alternative approach is demand-driven. Implementing this approach, an analyzer allows the user to indicate a point within a higher-order program and subsequently determines its flow fact, determining as few subsidiary facts as possible. The analyzer keeps the set of subsidiary facts relatively small by exploring control flow both forwards and backwards, similar to how a human might reason. This talk introduces the demand-driven approach, discusses aspects that make it particularly appealing for today’s language infrastructure and tooling, and outlines possible applications and enhancements.