FROM EDN EUROPE: Catch software runtime errors at compile time

PolySpace Technologies develops software for automatic detection of runtime errors in mission-critical code; it is now expanding its interests into the general embedded programming world. Its products examine and analyse source code in C, C++, or Ada. The strategy is called static data flow analysis (as opposed to functional testing): using a technique called Abstract Interpretation, the software follows data flow in the code under test.

In a simplified view, each time the code performs a data manipulation, the software sets out the various ways that computation could go wrong (divide by zero, overflow errors, and so on). It then creates a listing of all the data values that could lead to those errors and examines the flow of data to check if, and under what conditions, those conditions can ever be met. It also makes a number of other checks on the code, such as unreachable statements. Code is classified as green (good), orange (potentially hazardous), red (hazardous) or grey (not exectuted), the color coding being applied directly back to on-screen source code listing. The software is relatively run-time intensive, taking approximately 1 hour to examine 5000 lines. It comes in two packages; "verfier" and "desktop." The latter is one that would be used by every software coder, and is priced at £ [UKP] 3000. Verifier, a batch product, is an enterprise-level package priced at £18,000. Code developers should achieve better quality and productivity; with no test cases to write, the tool is used just like a compiler. PolySpace says that the software will catch bugs that would have been found in any case, only earlier; bugs that would not normally be tested for; and bugs that, although a test might be written, would be "symptom-free". The extracted behavior of the data from the analysis product can be used to model the behaviour of blocks of code in hierarchical models - but without any timing data, as there is no knowledge of implementation platform.

The latest release of the product, version 2.5, is now qualified for the aerospace standard DO-178B.

PolySpace; +44 1494 616051, www.polyspace.com.