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Analysis of institutional authors

Morales, Jose FAuthorHermenegildo, Manuel, VAuthor

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August 28, 2025
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Checkification: A Practical Approach for Testing Static Analysis Truths

Publicated to: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING. - 2025-07-22 (), DOI: 10.1017/S1471068425100069

Authors:

Ferreiro; D; Casso; I; Morales; JF; López-García; P; Hermenegildo; MV
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Affiliations

IMDEA Software Inst, Madrid, Spain - Author
Spanish Council Sci Res CSIC, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Static analysis is an essential component of many modern software development tools. Unfortunately, the ever-increasing complexity of static analyzers makes their coding error-prone. Even analysis tools based on rigorous mathematical techniques, such as abstract interpretation, are not immune to bugs. Ensuring the correctness and reliability of software analyzers is critical if they are to be inserted in production compilers and development environments. While compiler validation has seen notable success, formal validation of static analysis tools remains relatively unexplored. In this paper we present checkification, a simple, automatic method for testing static analyzers. Broadly, it consists in checking, over a suite of benchmarks, that the properties inferred statically are satisfied dynamically. The main advantage of our approach lies in its simplicity, which stems directly from framing it within the Ciao assertion-based validation framework, and its blended static/dynamic assertion checking approach. We demonstrate that in this setting, the analysis can be tested with little effort by combining the following components already present in the framework: 1) the static analyzer, which outputs its results as the original program source with assertions interspersed; 2) the assertion run-time checking mechanism, which instruments a program to ensure that no assertion is violated at run time; 3) the random test case generator, which generates random test cases satisfying the properties present in assertion preconditions; and 4) the unit-test framework, which executes those test cases. We have applied our approach to the CiaoPP static analyzer, resulting in the identification of many bugs with reasonable overhead. Most of these bugs have been either fixed or confirmed, helping us detect a range of errors not only related to analysis soundness but also within other aspects of the framework.
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Keywords

Abstract interpretationAssertionsCiaoCompiler bugsConstraint logic programinConstraint logic programingLogicLogic programingNon-failure analysisRun-time checkingRun-time checksStatic analysisSystemTestingVerificatio

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 2/27, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Logic.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-25:

  • Scopus: 1
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-25:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 4 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/94032/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 19
  • Downloads: 7
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Ferreiro, Daniela) and Last Author (HERMENEGILDO SALINAS, MANUEL DE).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Ferreiro, Daniela.

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Awards linked to the item

Partially funded by MICINN projects PID2019-108528RB-C21 ProCode, TED2021-132464B-I00 PRODIGY, and FJC2021-047102-I, and by the Tezos foundation. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their very useful feedback. This paper is an extended version of our previous work published in LOPSTR'20.
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