Symbolic Abstract Contract Synthesis in a Rewriting Framework [article]

María Alpuente, Daniel Pardo, Alicia Villanueva
2016 arXiv   pre-print
We propose an automated technique for inferring software contracts from programs that are written in a non-trivial fragment of C, called KernelC, that supports pointer-based structures and heap manipulation. Starting from the semantic definition of KernelC in the K framework, we enrich the symbolic execution facilities recently provided by K with novel capabilities for assertion synthesis that are based on abstract subsumption. Roughly speaking, we define an abstract symbolic technique that
more » ... ains the execution of a (modifier) C function by using other (observer) routines in the same program. We implemented our technique in the automated tool KindSpec 2.0, which generates logical axioms that express pre- and post-condition assertions by defining the precise input/output behaviour of the C routines.
arXiv:1608.05619v1 fatcat:szggkkgk2zbwfc2g47vepyym5a