Explaining Data Type Reduction in the Shape Analysis Framework

Automatic formal verification of systems composed of a large or even unbounded number of components is difficult as the state space of these systems is prohibitively large. Abstraction techniques automatically construct finite approximations of infinite-state systems from which safe information about the original system can be inferred. We study two abstraction techniques shape analysis, a technique from program analysis, and data type reduction, originating from model checking. Untilion techniques shape analysis, a technique from program analysis, and data type reduction, originating from model checking. Until recently we did not properly understand how shape analysis and data type reduction relate. We shed light on this relation in a comprehensive way. This is a step towards a more unified view of abstraction employed in the static analysis and model checking community.