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Eliminating Dead Code on Recursive Data

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Static Analysis (SAS 1999)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1694))

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Abstract

This paper describes a general and powerful method for dead code analysis and elimination in the presence of recursive data constructions. We represent partially dead recursive data using liveness patterns based on general regular tree grammars extended with the notion of live and dead, and we formulate the analysis as computing liveness patterns at all program points based on program semantics. This analysis yields a most precise liveness pattern for the data at each program point, which is significantly more precise than results from previous methods. The analysis algorithm takes cubic time in terms of the size of the program in the worst case but is very efficient in practice, as shown by our prototype implementation. The analysis results are used to identify and eliminate dead code. The general framework for representing and analyzing properties of recursive data structures using general regular tree grammars applies to other analyses as well.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of NSF under grant CCR-9711253 and ONR under grants N00014-99-1-0132 and N00014-99-1-0358.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Yanhong A. Liu & Scott D. Stoller

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  1. Yanhong A. Liu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Informatica, Università Ca’Foscari di Venezia, via Torino 155, I-30170, Mestre-Venezia, Italy

    Agostino Cortesi

  2. Dipartimento di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, Università di Padova, via Belzoni 7, I-35131, Padova, Italy

    Gilberto Filé

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Liu, Y.A., Stoller, S.D. (1999). Eliminating Dead Code on Recursive Data. In: Cortesi, A., Filé, G. (eds) Static Analysis. SAS 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1694. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48294-6_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48294-6_14

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