dsOli: data structure operation location and identification

Abstract

Comprehension of C programs can be a difficult task, especially when they contain pointer-based dynamic data structures. This paper describes our tool dsOli which aims to simplify this problem by automatically locating and identifying data structure operations in C programs, such as inserting into a singly linked list. The approach is based on a dynamic analysis that seeks to identify functional units in a program by observing repetitive temporal patterns caused by multiple invocations of code fragments. The behaviour of these functional units is then classified by matching the associated heap states against templates describing common data structure operations. The analysis results are available to the user via XML output, and can also be viewed using an intuitive GUI which overlays the learnt information on the program source code.