article

Open access

Experimental evaluation of a generic abstract interpretation algorithm for PROLOG

Editor: Andrew Appel Authors:

Baudouin Le Charlier,

Pascal Van HentenryckAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), Volume 16, Issue 1

Pages 35 - 101

https://doi.org/10.1145/174625.174627

Published: 01 January 1994 Publication History

Abstract

Abstract interpretation of PROLOG programs has attracted many researchers in recent years, partly because of the potential for optimization in PROLOG compilers and partly because of the declarative nature of logic programming languages that make them more amenable to optimization than procedural languages. Most of the work, however, has remained at the theoretical level, focusing on the developments of frameworks and the definition of abstract domains.

This paper reports our effort to verify experimentally the practical value of this area of research. It describes the design and implementation of the generic abstract interpretation algorithm GAIA that we originally proposed in Le Charlier et al. [1991], its instantiation to a sophisticated abstract domain (derived from Bruynooghe and Janssens [1988]) containing modes, types, sharing, and aliasing, and its evaluation both in terms of performance and accuracy. The overall implementation (over 5000 lines of Pascal) has been systematically analyzed on a variety of programs and compared with the complexity analysis of Le Charlie et al. [1991] and the specific analysis systems of Hickey and Mudambi [1989], Taylor [1989; 1990], Van Roy and Despain [1990], and Warren et al. [1988].

References

[1]

~BARBUTI, R., GIACOBAZZI, R., AND LEVI, G. 1993. A general framework for semantics-based ~bottom-up abstract interpretation of logic programs. ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst. 15, 1 ~(Jan.), 133-181.

[2]

~BRUYNOOGHE, M. 1991. A practical framework for the abstract interpretation of logic pro- ~grams. J. Logic Program. 10, 2 (Feb.), 91-124.

[3]

~BRUYNOOGHE, M., AND JANSSENS, G. 1988. An instance of abstract interpretation: Integrating ~type and mode inferencing. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Logic ~Programming. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 669-683.

[4]

~BRUYNOOGHE, M., JANSSENS, G., CALLEBAUT, A., AND DEMOEN, B. 1987. Abstract interpretation: ~Towards the global optimization of Prolog programs. In Proceedings of the 1987 Symposium on ~Logic Programming. IEEE, New York, 192-204.

[5]

~CODISH, M., GALLAGHER, J., AND SHAPIRO, E. 1989. Using safe approximations of fixed points ~for analysis of logic programs. In Meta-Programming in Logic Programming. MIT Press, ~Cambridge, Mass.

[6]

~CODOGNET, C., CODOGNET, P., AND CORSINI, J.M. 1990. Abstract interpretation of concurrent ~logic languages. In Proceedings of the North American Conference on Logic Programming ~(NACLP-90). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[7]

~CORSINI, A., AND FILth, G. 1989. A complete framework for the abstract interpretation of logic ~programs: Theory and applications. Res. Rep., Univ. of Padova, Italy.

[8]

~CousoT, P., AND COUSOT, R~ 1977. Abstract interpretation: A unified lattice model for static ~analysis of programs by construction or approximation of fixpoints. In Conference Record of the ~4th ACM Symposium on POPL. ACM, New York, 238-252.

[9]

~COUSOT, P., AND COUSOT, R. 1992. Abstract interpretation and application to logic programs. ~J. Logic Program. 13, 2-3, 103-180.

[10]

~DEBRAY, S. 1986. Global optimizations of logic programs. Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Computer ~Science, S.U.N.Y., Stony Brook, N.Y.

[11]

~DEBRAY, S., AND MISHRA, P. 1988. Denotational and operational semantics for PROLOG. J. ~Logic Program. 5, 1, 61-91.

[12]

~DINCBAS, M., SIMONIS, H., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1990. Solving large combinatorial prob- ~lems in logic programming. J. Logic Program. 8, 1-2, 75-93.

[13]

~DOBRY, T. P. 1990. A High Performance Architecture for Prolog. Kluwer, Deventer, The ~Netherlands.

[14]

~ENGLEBERT, V., AND ROLAND, D. 1992. Abstract interpretation of PROLOG programs: Opti- ~mizations of an implementation. M~moire de licence et maltrise en Informatique, Dept. of ~Computer Science, Univ. of Namur, Belgium.

[15]

~ENGLEBERT, V., LE CHARMER, B., ROLAND, D., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1993. Generic abstract ~interpretation algorithms for Prolog: Two optimization techniques and their experimental ~evaluation. Softw. Pract. Exper. 23, 4 (Apr.).

[16]

~GAMBOSI, G., NESETRIL, J., AND TALAMO, M. 1987. Posets, Boolean representations and quick ~path searching. In Proceedings of the 14th International: Colloquium on Automata, Languages ~and Programming (ICALP'87).

[17]

~HERMENEGILDO, M., WARREN, R., AND DEBRAY, S. 1992. Global flow analysis as a practical ~compilation tool. J. Logic Program. 13, 4, 349-367.

[18]

~HICKEY, T., AND MUDAMBI, S. 1989. Global compilation of Prolog. J. Logic Program. 7, 3, ~193-230.

[19]

~JACOBS, D., AND LANGEN, A. 1989. Accurate and efficient approximation of variable aliasing in ~logic programs. In Proceedings of the North American Conference on Logic Programming ~(NACLP-89). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[20]

~JANSSENS, G. 1990. Deriving run time propergiee of logic program8 by meane of abstract ~interpretation. Ph.D. thesis, Dept. Computerwetenschappen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, ~Leuven, Belgium.

[21]

~JONES, N. D. AND MYCROFT, A. 1986. Dataflow analysis of applicative programs using minimal ~function graphs. In Proceedzngs of 13th ACM Symposzum on Principles of Programming ~Languages. ACM, New York, 123-142.

[22]

~JONES, N. D., AND SONDERGAARD, H. 1987. A Semantics-Based Framework for the Abstract ~Interpretatton of Prolog. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, U.K., 123-142.

[23]

~LE CHARLIER, B., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1992a. Experimental evaluation of a generic ~abstract interpretation algorithm for Prolog. In 4th IEEE International Conference on Com- ~puter Languages ( ICCL'92 ). IEEE, New York.

[24]

~LE CHARLIER, B., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1992b. On the design of generic abstract interpre- ~tation frameworks. In Workshop on Statw Analysis ( WSA'92 ).

[25]

~LE CHARLIER, B., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1992c. Reexecution in abstract interpretation of ~Prolog. In Proceedzngs of the International Jotnt Conference and Symposzum on Logzc Pro- ~grammzng ( JICSLP-92 ).

[26]

~LE CHARLIER, B., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1992d. A universal top-down fixpoint algorithm. ~Tech. Rep. CS-92-25, Computer Science Dept, Brown Univ., Prowdence, R.I.

[27]

~LE CHARLIER, B., MUSUMBU, K., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1990. Efficient and accurate algo- ~rithms for the abstract interpretation of Protog programs. Res. Paper RP-90/9, Univ. of ~Namur, Namur, Belgium.

[28]

LE CHARLIER, B. MUSUMBU, K., AND VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1991. A generic abstract interpreta- ~tion algorithm and its complexity analysis (extended abstract). In 8th Internatwnal Conference ~on Logic Programming (ICLP-91). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 64-78.

[29]

~MARRIOTT, K., AND SONDERGAARD, H. 1988. Bottom-up abstract interpretation of logic pro- ~grams In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Logic Programming. MIT Press, ~Cambridge, Mass., 733-748.

[30]

~MARRIOTT, K., AND SONDERGAARD, H. 1989a. Notes for a tutorial on abstract interpretation of ~logic programs. In North American Conference on Logtc Programming.

[31]

~MARRIOTT, K., AND SONDERGAARD, H. 1989b. Semantics-based dataflow analysis of logic pro- ~grams. In Information Processzng-89. 601-606.

[32]

~MELLISH, C. 1981. The automatic generation of mode declarations for Prolog programs. Tech. ~Rep. DAI 163, Dept. of Artificial Intelligence, Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland.

[33]

~MELLISH, C. 1987. Abstract Interpretatwn of Prolog Programs. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, ~U.K., 181-198.

[34]

~MULKERS, A., WINSBOROUGH, W., AND BRUYNOOGHE, M. 1990. Analysis of shared data struc- ~tures for compile-time garbage collection in logic programs. In 7th Internatwnal Conference on ~Logzc Programming (ICLP-90). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 747-764.

[35]

~MUSUMBU, K. 1990. Interpretation abstraite de programmes Prolog. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of ~Namur, Belgium.

[36]

MUTHUKUMAR, K., AND HERMENEGILDO, M. 1989. Determination of variable dependence infor- ~mation through abstract interpretation. In Proceedtngs of the North American Conference on ~Logic Programming (NACLP-89). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 166-188.

[37]

~NILSSON, U. 1989. A systematic approach to abstract interpretation of logic programs, Ph.D. ~thesis, Dept. of Computer and Information Science, Linkoping Univ., Linkoping, Sweden.

[38]

~SONDERGAARD, H. 1986. An application of abstract interpretation of logic programs: Occur ~check reductmn. In Proceedings ofESOP'86 (Sarrbruecken, Germany). Springer-Verlag, Berlin, ~327-338.

[39]

~STERLING, L., AND SHAPII%O, E. 1986. The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming Tcchnicl~c6. ~MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[40]

~TAMASSIA, R., AND PREPARATA, F. P. 1990. Dynamic maintenance of planar digraphs, with ~applications. Algorithmica 5, 4, 509-527.

[41]

~TAYLOR, A. 1989. Removal of dereferencing and trailing in Prolog compilation. In 6th In terna- ~ttonal Conference on Logic Programming. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 48-62.

[42]

~TAYLOR, A. 1990. LIPS on MIPS: Results from a Prolog compder for a RISC. In 7th Interna- ~tional Conference on Logic Programmzng (ICLP-90). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 174-188.

[43]

~VAN HENTENRYCK, P. 1989. Constratnt Satisfaction tn Logtc Programming. Logic Program- ~ming Series. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[44]

~VAN ROY, P., AND DESPAIN, A. 1990. The benefits of global dataflow analysis for an optimizing ~Prolog compiler. In Proceedings of the North American Conference on Logic Programming ~(NACLP-90). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 501-515.

[45]

~WARREN, R., HERMEDEGILDO, M., AND DEBRAY, S. 1988. On the practicality of global flow ~analysis of logic programs. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Logic~ ~Programmzng. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 684-699.

[46]

~WINSBOROUGH, W. 1992. Multiple specialization using minimal-function graph semantics. J. ~Logic Program. 13 4.

[47]

~WINSBOROUGH, W.H. 1987. A minimal function graph semantics for logic programs. Tech. Rep. ~TR-711, Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison.

Cited By

AMATO GSCOZZARI F(2024)Optimal Matching for Sharing and Linearity AnalysisTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S1471068424000152(1-27)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1471068424000152
Jurjo DMorales JLópez-García PHermenegildo M(2023)Proceedings 39th International Conference on Logic ProgrammingElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.385.6385(55-57)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.385.6
Jurjo DMorales JLopez-Garcia PHermenegildo M(2023)A Rule-Based Approach for Designing and Composing Abstract DomainsLogic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation10.1007/978-3-031-45784-5_6(80-98)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-45784-5_6
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Experimental evaluation of a generic abstract interpretation algorithm for PROLOG
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language types

Recommendations

Sequence-based abstract interpretation of Prolog

Abstract interpretation is a general methodology for systematic development of program analyses. An abstract interpretation framework is centered around a parametrized non-standard semantics that can be instantiated by various domains to approximate ...
Abstract interpretation of resolution-based semantics

We extend the abstract interpretation point of view on context-free grammars by Cousot and Cousot to resolution-based logic programs and proof systems. Starting from a transition-based small-step operational semantics of Prolog programs (akin to the ...
Using Template Haskell for Abstract Interpretation

Metaprogramming consists of writing programs that generate or manipulate other programs. Template Haskell is a recent extension of Haskell, currently implemented in the Glasgow Haskell Compiler, giving support to metaprogramming at compile time. Our aim ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems Volume 16, Issue 1

Jan. 1994

172 pages

ISSN:0164-0925

EISSN:1558-4593

DOI:10.1145/174625

Editor:
Andrew Appel
Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1994 ACM.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 January 1994

Published in TOPLAS Volume 16, Issue 1

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

89
Total Citations
View Citations
594
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)100
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)16

Reflects downloads up to 21 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

AMATO GSCOZZARI F(2024)Optimal Matching for Sharing and Linearity AnalysisTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S1471068424000152(1-27)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1471068424000152
Jurjo DMorales JLópez-García PHermenegildo M(2023)Proceedings 39th International Conference on Logic ProgrammingElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.385.6385(55-57)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.385.6
Jurjo DMorales JLopez-Garcia PHermenegildo M(2023)A Rule-Based Approach for Designing and Composing Abstract DomainsLogic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation10.1007/978-3-031-45784-5_6(80-98)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-45784-5_6
DOVIER AFORMISANO AGUPTA GHERMENEGILDO MPONTELLI EROCHA R(2022)Parallel Logic Programming: A SequelTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S147106842200005922:6(905-973)Online publication date: 28-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1471068422000059
DE ANGELIS EFIORAVANTI FGALLAGHER JHERMENEGILDO MPETTOROSSI APROIETTI M(2021)Analysis and Transformation of Constrained Horn Clauses for Program VerificationTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S147106842100021122:6(974-1042)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2021
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1471068421000211
Albert EArenas PPuebla GHermenegildo M(2012)Certificate size reduction in abstraction-carrying code*Theory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S147106841000048712:3(283-318)Online publication date: 1-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1017/S1471068410000487
Amato GScozzari F(2009)Optimality in goal-dependent analysis of sharingTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S14710684099901119:5(617-689)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1017/S1471068409990111
Guigang ZWang SChengZhi XGong ZSheu P(2008)A Semantic Programming Language SPL+ - A Preliminary ReportProceedings of the 2008 20th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence - Volume 0210.1109/ICTAI.2008.104(274-281)Online publication date: 3-Nov-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICTAI.2008.104
Albert EPuebla GHermenegildo M(2008)Abstraction-Carrying Code: a Model for Mobile Code SafetyNew Generation Computing10.1007/s00354-008-0039-726:2(171-204)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00354-008-0039-7
Méndez-Lojo MNavas JHermenegildo M(2008)A Flexible, (C)LP-Based Approach to the Analysis of Object-Oriented ProgramsLogic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation10.1007/978-3-540-78769-3_11(154-168)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-540-78769-3_11
Show More Cited By

View Options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Article

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents