A Symbolic Execution Framework with Explicit Heaps and Separation

Program verification of heap properties is challenging. A promising approach is Separation Logic, which supports local reasoning over disjoint portions of the heap. In this paper, we propose a heap constraint language H that explicates the heap and incorporates separation. By explicating the heap, the language is more suitable for automatic symbolic execution. We show that this language can be translated into a quantifier-free fragment of linear arithmetic, so that standard treatments apply. When combined with Constraint Logic Programming (CLP), the language is highly expressive and can be used to define recursive data-structures. Furthermore, it is amenable to automatic treatment though constraint solving and standard CLP execution algorithms.