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Collecting Statistics Over Runtime Executions

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Abstract

We present an extension to linear-time temporal logic (LTL) that combines the temporal specification with the collection of statistical data. By collecting statistics over runtime executions of a program we can answer complex queries, such as “what is the average number of packet transmissions'' in a communication protocol, or “how often does a particular process enter the critical section while another process remains waiting'' in a mutual exclusion algorithm. To decouple the evaluation strategy of the queries from the definition of the temporal operators, we introduce algebraic alternating automata as an automata-based intermediate representation. Algebraic alternating automata are an extension of alternating automata that produce a value instead of acceptance or rejection for each trace. Based on the translation of the formulas from the query language to algebraic alternating automata, we obtain a simple and efficient query evaluation algorithm. The approach is illustrated with examples and experimental results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Bernd Finkbeiner

  2. Fachrichtung Informatik, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Bernd Finkbeiner

  3. Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Sriram Sankaranarayanan & Henny B. Sipma

Authors
  1. Bernd Finkbeiner
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  2. Sriram Sankaranarayanan
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  3. Henny B. Sipma
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Finkbeiner, B., Sankaranarayanan, S. & Sipma, H.B. Collecting Statistics Over Runtime Executions. Form Method Syst Des 27, 253–274 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10703-005-3399-3

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