Model checking Java programs

Automatic state exploration tools (model checkers) have had some success when applied to protocols and hardware designs, but there are fewer success stories about software. This is unfortunate, since the software problem is worsening even faster than the hardware and protocol problems. Model checking of concurrent programs is especially interesting, because they are notoriously difficult to test, analyze, and debug by other methods. This talk will be a description of our initial efforts to check Java programs using a model checker. The model checker supports dynamic allocation, thread creation, and recursive procedures (features that are not necessary for hardware verification), and has some special optimizations and checks tailored to multi-threaded Java program. I will also discuss some of the challenges for future efforts in this area.