On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs

Tong Chen; Jin Lin; Wei Chung Hsu; Pen Chung Yew

doi:10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290

On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs

Tong Chen, Jin Lin, Wei Chung Hsu, Pen Chung Yew

Computer Science and Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many applications written in C allocate memory blocks for their major data structures from the heap space at run time. The analysis of heap-oriented pointers in such programs is critical for compilers to generate high-performance code. However, most previous research on pointer analysis mostly focuses on pointers pointing to global or local variables. In this paper, we study points-to analysis of heap-oriented pointers using profiling information. An instrumentation tool and a set of library routines are developed to measure points-to sets of memory references at run time. Different naming methods for heap-oriented pointers are studied. We found that it is very important to adopt appropriate naming methods to recognize wrapper functions for memory allocation and memory management functions defined by users. Based on these naming methods, the approaches in pointer analysis, such as flow sensitivity and context sensitivity, are examined with the run-time tool. The program characteristics are observed at run time to evaluate what kind of compiler analysis is needed. Experiments are conducted on SPEC CPU2000 integer benchmarks. We found that flow sensitivity and context sensitivity have little impact on the analysis of heap-oriented pointers.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002
Editors	D. Frank Hsu, Rafael P. Saldana, Oscar H. Ibarra
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	251-256
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	0769515797
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290
State	Published - 2002
Event	International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002 - Makati, Manila, Philippines Duration: May 22 2002 → May 24 2002

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN
Volume	2002-January

Other

Other	International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002
Country/Territory	Philippines
City	Makati, Manila
Period	5/22/02 → 5/24/02

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2002 IEEE.

Keywords

Computer science
Instruments
Memory management
Optimized production technology
Optimizing compilers
Program processors
Read only memory
Runtime
Shape
Testing

Publisher link

10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290

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Cite this

Chen, T., Lin, J., Hsu, W. C., & Yew, P. C. (2002). On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs. In D. F. Hsu, R. P. Saldana, & O. H. Ibarra (Eds.), Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002 (pp. 251-256). Article 1004290 (Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN; Vol. 2002-January). IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290

On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs. / Chen, Tong; Lin, Jin; Hsu, Wei Chung et al.
Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002. ed. / D. Frank Hsu; Rafael P. Saldana; Oscar H. Ibarra. IEEE Computer Society, 2002. p. 251-256 1004290 (Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN; Vol. 2002-January).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Chen, T, Lin, J, Hsu, WC & Yew, PC 2002, On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs. in DF Hsu, RP Saldana & OH Ibarra (eds), Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002., 1004290, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN, vol. 2002-January, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 251-256, International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002, Makati, Manila, Philippines, 5/22/02. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290

Chen T, Lin J, Hsu WC, Yew PC. On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs. In Hsu DF, Saldana RP, Ibarra OH, editors, Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002. IEEE Computer Society. 2002. p. 251-256. 1004290. (Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN). doi: 10.1109/ISPAN.2002.1004290

Chen, Tong ; Lin, Jin ; Hsu, Wei Chung et al. / On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs. Proceedings - International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN 2002. editor / D. Frank Hsu ; Rafael P. Saldana ; Oscar H. Ibarra. IEEE Computer Society, 2002. pp. 251-256 (Proceedings of the International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms and Networks, I-SPAN).

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AB - Many applications written in C allocate memory blocks for their major data structures from the heap space at run time. The analysis of heap-oriented pointers in such programs is critical for compilers to generate high-performance code. However, most previous research on pointer analysis mostly focuses on pointers pointing to global or local variables. In this paper, we study points-to analysis of heap-oriented pointers using profiling information. An instrumentation tool and a set of library routines are developed to measure points-to sets of memory references at run time. Different naming methods for heap-oriented pointers are studied. We found that it is very important to adopt appropriate naming methods to recognize wrapper functions for memory allocation and memory management functions defined by users. Based on these naming methods, the approaches in pointer analysis, such as flow sensitivity and context sensitivity, are examined with the run-time tool. The program characteristics are observed at run time to evaluate what kind of compiler analysis is needed. Experiments are conducted on SPEC CPU2000 integer benchmarks. We found that flow sensitivity and context sensitivity have little impact on the analysis of heap-oriented pointers.

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On the impact of naming methods for heap-oriented pointers in C programs

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