skip to main content
article
Free Access

Formally based static analysis of microcode

Published:01 December 1986Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

Algebraic methods have been widely used to find properties of programs, especially for use in compiler optimisation. This paper describes the use of this kind of method to prove the absence of particular errors in microcode, or to detect and locate such errors. In order to show the kind of error which may be found we consider a number of examples. All of these have found errors in practical microcode, written for the PERQ computer.

References

  1. 1 Aho A. V. "Principles of compiler design" Addison-Wesley 1977 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. 2 Allen F.E. and Cocke J. "A program data flow analysis procedure" Comm. ACM Vol 19 No 3 pp 137- 167 (1976) Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. 3 Backhouse R. C. and Carre B. A. "Regular algebra applied to path-finding problems" J. Inst. Math. Applic. Vol 15, ( 1975) pp 161-186Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  4. 4 G Bramson B.D. and Goodenough S.J. "Data use analysis for computer programs", unpublished R.S.R.E. report 1982Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. 5 Bramson B.D. "Information flow analysis for computer programs" unpublished R.S.R.E. report 1982Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. 6 Carre B.A. "Graphs and networks" OUP 1979Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. 7 Cousot P. and Cousot R. "Abstract interpretation. A unified Lattice model for static analysis of programs by construction of approximation of fixpoints" Cth ACM Symp. on Principles of Programming Languages, Los Angeles, 1977. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  8. 8 Currie I.F., Edwards P.W. and Foster J.M. "Flex firmware" RSRE Report No. 81869 (1981)Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. 9 Fosdick L.D. and Osterweil L.J. "Data flow analysis in software reliability" Computing Surveys, Vol 8. No 3, pp 385-338, (1976) Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  10. 10 Foster J. M. "Checking microcode algebraically w Computer Journal ( to appear ) (1986)Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  11. 11 Foster J. M. "Regu,lar expression analysis of procedures and exceptions" R.S.R.E. Report No. 85888 ( 1985)Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. 12 Kam J. B. and Ullman J. D. "Monotone data flow analysis frameworks" Acta lnf. Vol 7 ( 1977 ) pp 385-317Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. 13 Mezei J. and Wright J.B. "Algebraic automata and context-free sets" Information and Control Vol 11 ( 1967) pp3-29Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  14. 14 Mycroft A. "The theory and practise of transforming Call-by-need into call-by-value" Proc. bth. INT. Symp on Programming, Lecture notes on Computer Science 83, Springer-Verlag, 1980. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  15. 15 Mycroft A, and Nielson F. "Strong abstract interpretation using power domains" ICALP 1983, Lecture notes in Computer Science 15, Springer-Verlag 1983.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. 16 Rosen B. K. "Monoids for rapid data flow analysis" SIAM J. Comput. Vol 9 (1988) pp 159-196Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  17. 17 Salomaa A. "Two complete axiom systems for the algebra of regular events" Journal ACM Vol 13, No 1, Jan 1966 pp158- 169 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. 18 Tarjan R. E. "A unified approach to path programs" J. ACM, Vol 28, No 3. July 1981. pp 577-593 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. 19 Wegbreit B. "Property extraction in well-founded property sets" IEEE Trans. Software Eng. Vol 1 (1975) pp 278-285Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Formally based static analysis of microcode

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in

      Full Access

      • Published in

        cover image ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter
        ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter  Volume 17, Issue 4
        Dec. 1986
        163 pages
        ISSN:1050-916X
        DOI:10.1145/19530
        Issue’s Table of Contents
        • cover image ACM Conferences
          MICRO 19: Proceedings of the 19th annual workshop on Microprogramming
          December 1986
          179 pages
          ISBN:081860736X
          DOI:10.1145/19551

        Copyright © 1986 Author

        Publisher

        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 1 December 1986

        Check for updates

        Qualifiers

        • article
      • Article Metrics

        • Downloads (Last 12 months)14
        • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)2

        Other Metrics

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader
      About Cookies On This Site

      We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

      Learn more

      Got it!