Improving abstract interpretations by combining domains

Abstract

This article considers static analysis based on abstract interpretation of logic programs over combined domains. It is known that analyses over combined domains provide more information potentially than obtained by the independent analyses. However, the construction of a combined analysis often requires redefining the basic operations for the combined domain. A practical approach to maintain precision in combined analyses of logic programs which reuses the individual analyses and does not redefine the basic operations is illustrated. The advantages of the approach are that (1) proofs of correctness for the new domains are not required and (2) implementations can be reused. The approach is demonstrated by showing that a combined sharing analysis—constructed from “old” proposals—compares well with other “new” proposals suggested in recent literature both from the point of view of efficiency and accuracy.