The Location Linking Concept: A Basis for Verification of Code Using Pointers

Ultimately, any verifying compiler effort needs to be able to verify code that makes use of pointers, though language mechanisms for data abstraction, alias avoidance and control, or disciplined software development techniques may minimize the need for code that is directly based on pointering. It is also clear that the verification machinery of such as compiler must use specifications of components to reason about component-based software in order to be scalable. So this paper follows a natural question that arises by putting these two ideas together: Can the general machinery in a verifying compiler for component specificationbased verification also be used to verify code that uses typically built-in types, such as arrays and pointers, if those types are defined to have specifications similar to any other component? This paper answers the question in the affirmative by presenting a Location Linking Template, a concept that captures pointer behavior, and using it to verify the code of a simple data abstraction realized using pointers. Additionally, we note that the concept can be extended and realized so that different languages can plug in alternative implementations to give programmers the flexibility to choose manual memory management or automatic garbage collection depending on their performance concerns. 5