Science of Computer Programming最新文献

{"title":"Modular unification of unilingual pointer analyses to multilingual FFI-based programs","authors":"Jyoti Prakash ,&nbsp;Abhishek Tiwari ,&nbsp;Christian Hammer","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Modular analysis of polyglot applications is challenging because flows of heap objects must be resolved across language boundaries. The state-of-the-art analyses for polyglot applications have two fundamental limitations. First, they assume explicit boundaries between the guest and the host language to determine inter-language dataflows. Second, they rely on specific analyses of the host and guest languages. The former assumption is impractical concerning recent advancements in polyglot programming techniques, while the latter disregards advances in pointer analysis of the underlying languages. In this work, we propose to extend existing pointer analyses with a novel summary specialization technique that unifies points-to sets across language boundaries. Our novel technique leverages combinations of host and guest analyses with minor modifications. We demonstrate the efficacy and generalizability of our approach by evaluating it with two polyglot language models: Java-C communication via Android's NDK and Java-Python communication in GraalVM.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"243 ","pages":"Article 103278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143394518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Generalizing neural network verification to the family of piece-wise linear activation functions","authors":"László Antal,&nbsp;Erika Ábrahám,&nbsp;Hana Masara","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103269","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103269","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we extend an available neural network verification technique to support the full class of <em>piece-wise linear</em> activation functions. Furthermore, we extend the algorithms, which provide in their original form exact, respectively, over-approximative results for bounded input sets represented as star sets, to allow also <em>unbounded</em> input sets. We implemented our algorithms and demonstrate their effectiveness on some case studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"243 ","pages":"Article 103269"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143379316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does the compiler or interpreter version influence the energy consumption of programming languages?","authors":"Elisa Jiménez,&nbsp;Alberto Gordillo,&nbsp;Coral Calero,&nbsp;Ma Ángeles Moraga,&nbsp;Félix García","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103270","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103270","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Software plays a crucial role in our daily activities. Virtually all the technology we use contains software components written in a particular programming language. In this context, compilers and interpreters play an important role, as they are needed to convert the software source code into a format that can be executed by a machine. The significant influence of the programming language on the energy consumption of the resulting programs has been highlighted in some research. However, there is almost no research on the impact of the programming language compiler/interpreter version of the programming language on the energy consumption. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the impact of the compiler/interpreter version on the energy consumption of programs written in C, Java and Python. To do that we have performed a study that uses a hardware-based energy measurement approach to obtain the energy consumed by eight algorithms written in the three languages and run with different compiler/interpreter versions. The results do not show a trend of improvement between versions within each language, especially in terms of energy consumption. These results suggest that energy efficiency does not seem to be a major factor when developing compilers/interpreters and should therefore be prioritized.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"243 ","pages":"Article 103270"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143317549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deductive verification of solidity smart contracts with SSCalc","authors":"Diego Marmsoler,&nbsp;Billy Thornton","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103267","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103267","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Smart contracts are programs stored on the blockchain, often developed in a high-level programming language, the most popular of which is Solidity. Smart contracts are used to automate financial transactions and thus bugs can lead to large financial losses. With this paper, we address this problem by describing a verification environment for Solidity in Isabelle/HOL. To this end, we first describe a calculus to reason about Solidity smart contracts. The calculus is formalized in Isabelle/HOL and its soundness is mechanically verified. Then, we verify a theorem which guarantees that all instances of an arbitrary contract type satisfy a corresponding invariant. The theorem can be used to verify invariants for Solidity smart contracts. This is demonstrated by a case study in which we use our approach to verify a simple token implemented in Solidity. Our results show that the framework has the potential to significantly reduce the verification effort compared to verifying directly from the semantics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"243 ","pages":"Article 103267"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143176861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Filling query-type text inputs for Android applications via inner-app mining and GPT recommendation","authors":"Heji Huang,&nbsp;Ju Qian,&nbsp;Deping Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103266","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103266","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>GUI testing often requires filling reasonable text inputs to activate specific GUI behaviors, which is particularly challenging for query-type inputs used to search contents. Existing techniques may generate input data inconsistent with the query semantic or semantically consistent but not aligned with the current query domain. These data often result in trivial empty searches and are hard to test the internal matching conditions in the query. No search results also affect the further exploration of GUI pages depending on the query. This paper presents MATI (<u>M</u>ining <u>A</u>pp to generate <u>T</u>ext <u>I</u>nput), a new test generation method designed to fill query-type input items in Android applications with an intent to activate non-empty query searches. The method is built on a novel idea that the data suitable to input to a query often already occur on the GUI. Instead of creating new data by algorithms or retrieving data from external sources like the existing methods, MATI does inner-app mining to obtain proper candidate data for query inputs in an app. It then recommends the candidate data best fitting a specific query in both the query semantic and domain for test inputting via a GPT model. In experiments on 25 applications, MATI achieved a 94.6% GUI passing rate for query-type inputs–32.4% higher than the leading baseline, QTypist, thanks to its more generated non-empty searches. Its higher passing rates also led to 9.7% increments in the Android Activity coverage achieved during testing when integrating these methods into an automated GUI testing process. Such results suggest that MATI might benefit the practical testing of Android applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"242 ","pages":"Article 103266"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Model-based testing of asynchronously communicating distributed controllers using validated mappings to formal representations","authors":"Bence Graics,&nbsp;Milán Mondok,&nbsp;Vince Molnár,&nbsp;István Majzik","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103265","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103265","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Programmable controllers are gaining prevalence even in distributed safety-critical applications, e.g., in the railway and aerospace industries. In general, such systems are integrated using various loosely-coupled reactive components and must satisfy critical requirements. Thus, the verification of the design models and systematic testing of the implementation are essential tasks, which can be encumbered by the systems' distributed characteristics. In addition, the correctness of these verification methods is also vital. This paper, on the one hand, presents a model-based integration test generation (MBT) approach leveraging hidden formal methods based on the collaborating statechart models of the components. Statecharts can be integrated using various composition modes (e.g., synchronous and asynchronous) and then automatically mapped (via a symbolic transition systems formalism – XSTS) into the input formalisms of model checker back-ends, namely UPPAAL, Theta, Spin and nuXmv. The model checkers are utilized to generate tests based on formalized properties adhering to multiple coverage criteria. Furthermore, the paper presents a complementing validation approach for the proposed MBT approach based on demonstrating the semantic equivalence of high-level design models and the derived formal models used by the integrated model checkers for verification and test generation. The approaches are implemented in our open source Gamma Statechart Composition Framework and evaluated on industrial-scale distributed controller subsystems from the railway industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"242 ","pages":"Article 103265"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"State merging for concolic testing of event-driven applications","authors":"Maarten Vandercammen,&nbsp;Coen De Roover","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103264","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103264","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Symbolic execution has proven itself a successful technique for automatically testing applications. However, it suffers from the <em>state explosion</em> problem, where execution of the program generates an exponential number of execution states that must be explored to fully cover the program. This problem can be mitigated by incorporating <em>state merging</em> into the testing procedure, where execution states that are sufficiently similar are merged together.</div><div>Although state merging has been applied successfully to the testing of sequential applications, testing of event-driven applications brings with it unique challenges. In event-driven programs, the creation of new execution states is driven by both branch conditions encountered by the executor and the various permutations of the application's event sequence, as every event sequence potentially gives rise to a unique set of execution states that are created. This article presents the first description of how state merging can be applied in the context of symbolic execution of event-driven applications.</div><div>Furthermore, although state merging has been described extensively for <em>online</em> symbolic execution, no mechanism has yet explicitly been described for incorporating state merging into <em>offline</em> symbolic execution, such as concolic testing. Online symbolic executors enable forking of the execution state upon reaching a branch condition that depends on symbolic input. Such testers can explore multiple program paths simultaneously. They can hence fork and merge states whenever the opportunity arises. Offline symbolic execution on the other hand, explores each program path separately. The reduced flexibility complicates the application of state merging. This article provides the first explicit overview of how state merging can be incorporated in concolic testing.</div><div>We have implemented this approach to state merging in a concolic tester for event-driven JavaScript applications named <span>StackFul</span>. We evaluate this tester on a limited set of eight small, event-driven JavaScript web applications, and find that, within the scope of these eight applications, state merging successfully alleviates the state explosion problem, resulting in the concolic tester covering a larger part of the application in fewer test iterations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"242 ","pages":"Article 103264"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ULKB Logic: A HOL-based framework for reasoning over knowledge graphs","authors":"Guilherme Lima ,&nbsp;Alexandre Rademaker ,&nbsp;Rosario Uceda-Sosa","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103263","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103263","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>ULKB Logic is an open-source framework written in Python for reasoning over knowledge graphs. It provides an interactive theorem prover-like environment equipped with a higher-order language similar to the one used by HOL Light. The main goal of ULKB Logic is to ease the construction of applications that combine state-of-the-art computational logic tools with the knowledge available in knowledge graphs, such as Wikidata. To this end, the framework provides APIs for fetching statements from SPARQL endpoints and operating over the constructed theories using automated theorem provers and SMT solvers (such as the E prover and Z3). In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of ULKB Logic, present its interfaces for querying knowledge graphs and for calling external provers, and discuss a use case of commonsense reasoning in which ULKB Logic is used as the target logic for representing the semantics of English sentences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"242 ","pages":"Article 103263"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introduction to the TASE 2023 Special Issue","authors":"Neeraj Kumar Singh ,&nbsp;Cristina David ,&nbsp;Meng Sun ,&nbsp;Meng Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103262","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2025.103262","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"243 ","pages":"Article 103262"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating behavioral semantic analysis in usage-based equivalent tests generation for mobile applications","authors":"Shuqi Liu ,&nbsp;Yu Zhou ,&nbsp;Huiwen Yang ,&nbsp;Tingting Han ,&nbsp;Taolue Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.scico.2024.103261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scico.2024.103261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Graphical user interface (GUI) testing is crucial to ensure the expected behaviors of mobile applications (apps). The burgeoning automated usage-based testing seeks to generate simulated human interactions tailored to functional features of apps. However, the difficulties in understanding UI semantics, along with the multiple implementation alternatives, significantly restrict the ability to exercise a specified usage. In this paper, we propose <span>GUEST</span> (<strong>G</strong>enerating <strong>U</strong>sage-based <strong>E</strong>quivalent Te<strong>ST</strong>s), which automates the generation of multiple equivalent tests for GUI usage to help developers more thoroughly test mobile apps' features. <span>GUEST</span> integrates textual information from state pages with the UI structure to express operational GUI widgets with semantic information. It leverages the semantic coverage of edge links within the state transition graph of state-machine encoding for the usage to match canonical screens for the current state page. To exploit behavioral semantics, <span>GUEST</span> treats the state transition graph as a social network and performs centrality analysis to identify key canonical screens in the state transition graph. By utilizing the intimacy between key screens and candidate widgets' reachable screens, <span>GUEST</span> grants higher priority to frequently used and more accessible actions. We evaluate <span>GUEST</span> on desired usages across 22 popular apps and the results reveal that <span>GUEST</span> can successfully exercise the desired usage in 88% of the tests and outperform the state-of-the-art baseline method in both screen and widget classification performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49561,"journal":{"name":"Science of Computer Programming","volume":"242 ","pages":"Article 103261"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}