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Efficient Runtime Assertion Checking for Properties over Mathematical Numbers

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Runtime Verification (RV 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 12399))

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Abstract

Runtime assertion checking is the discipline of detecting at runtime violations of program properties written as formal code annotations. These properties often include numerical properties, which may rely on either (bounded) machine representations or (unbounded) mathematical numbers. The verification of the former is easier to implement and more efficient at runtime, while the latter are more expressive and often more adequate for writing specifications. This short paper explains how the runtime assertion checker E-ACSL reconciles both approaches by presenting a type system that allows the tool to generate efficient machine-number based code when it is safe to do so, while generating arbitrary-precision code when it is necessary. This type system and the code generator not only handle integers but also rational arithmetics. As far as we know, it is the first runtime verification tool that supports the verification of properties over rational numbers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://blog.regehr.org/archives/1091.

  2. 2.

    See e.g. http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~arnold/disasters/patriot.html.

  3. 3.

    See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Stock_Exchange.

  4. 4.

    https://gmplib.org/.

  5. 5.

    E-ACSL also supports floating-point constants such as 0.1f but they are excluded here for the sake of simplicity.

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank Thales Research & Technology for support of this work, the Frama-C team for providing the tool, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEA, LIST, Software Safety and Security Laboratory, Palaiseau, France

    Nikolai Kosmatov, Fonenantsoa Maurica & Julien Signoles

  2. Thales Research & Technology, Palaiseau, France

    Nikolai Kosmatov

  3. Billee, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

    Fonenantsoa Maurica

Authors
  1. Nikolai Kosmatov
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  2. Fonenantsoa Maurica
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  3. Julien Signoles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikolai Kosmatov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Jyotirmoy Deshmukh

  2. AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, Austria

    Dejan Ničković

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Kosmatov, N., Maurica, F., Signoles, J. (2020). Efficient Runtime Assertion Checking for Properties over Mathematical Numbers. In: Deshmukh, J., Ničković, D. (eds) Runtime Verification. RV 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12399. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60508-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60508-7_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-60507-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-60508-7

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