Modular interprocedural pointer analysis using access paths: Design, implementation, and evaluation

In this paper we present a modular interprocedural pointer analysis algorithm based on access-paths for C programs. We argue that access paths can reduce the overhead of representing context-sensitive transfer functions and effectively distinguish non-recursive heap objects. And when the modular analysis paradigm is used together with other techniques to handle type casts and function pointers, we are able to handle significant programs like those in the SPECcint92 and SPECcint95 suites. We have implemented the algorithm and tested it on a Pentium II 450 PC running Linux. The observed resource consumption and performance improvement are very encouraging.