Practical pluggable types for Java
Submitted by mernst on Wed, 2011-11-30 14:35
| Title | Practical pluggable types for Java |
| Publication Type | Conference Paper |
| Year of Publication | 2008 |
| Authors | Papi MM, Ali M, Correa Jr. T L, Perkins JH, Ernst MD |
| Conference Name | ISSTA 2008, Proceedings of the 2008 International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis |
| Date or Month Published | July 22–24 |
| Conference Location | Seattle, WA, USA |
| Abstract | <p>This paper introduces the Checker Framework, which supports adding pluggable type systems to the Java language in a backward-compatible way. A type system designer defines type qualifiers and their semantics, and a compiler plug-in enforces the semantics. Programmers can write the type qualifiers in their programs and use the plug-in to detect or prevent errors. The Checker Framework is useful both to programmers who wish to write error-free code, and to type system designers who wish to evaluate and deploy their type systems. </p> <p> The Checker Framework includes new Java syntax for expressing type qualifiers; declarative and procedural mechanisms for writing type-checking rules; and support for flow-sensitive local type qualifier inference and for polymorphism over types and qualifiers. The Checker Framework is well-integrated with the Java language and toolset. </p> <p> We have evaluated the Checker Framework by writing 5 checkers and running them on over 600K lines of existing code. The checkers found real errors, then confirmed the absence of further errors in the fixed code. The case studies also shed light on the type systems themselves.</p> |
| Downloads | Talk slides (PDF) Demo slides (PDF) Papi thesis (PDF) Checker Framework implementation PDF PostScript |
| Citation Key | PapiACPE2008 |
Last changed Mon, 2013-06-03 10:27

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