Symbolic dimension bound checking in a matrix language

Abstract

A symbolic dimension-bound checker calculates an unconditional symbolic range for each index variable after each statement in a matrix language program. Using these symbolic ranges, dimension-bound restrictions are checked symbolically. If the symbolic dimension bound restrictions cannot be verified, run-time restrictions are generated on the input variables of the program. It is shown under which conditions symbolic evaluation of index expressions in a matrix language is possible, and how the symbolic dimension-bound checker detects if input restrictions are redundant or contradicting. The dimension-bound checker is part of a matrix language compiler in a very-high-level program-producing system for statistical software.<>