CS 6340
Software Analysis and Test
Fall 2023
Announcements:

Instructor:
Qirun Zhang,
Office: 2324 Klaus
Office Hours: Tue/Thu 4:45 - 5:30 PM
Email: qrzhang@gatech.edu

Teaching Assistant:
Matthew Davis,
Office: By appointment
Office Hours: Tuesday 11 AM - 12 PM
Email: mdavis438@gatech.edu

Yu Pan,
Office: By appointment
Office Hours: Wednesday 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Email: yupan@gatech.edu

Lectures:
Time: Tue/Thu 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Location: Howey Physics L5*
Zoom link: Click to join.

Course Summary:
CS 6340 is a graduate-level course on software analysis and testing. We will cover topics such as static program analysis, random testing, dataflow analysis, type systems, test case generation, symbolic execution, and more. We will also study selected papers from PL conferences such as POPL and PLDI.

References:

Assignments:
  • Paper Review
    • Paper review LaTeX template.
    • Deadline: by 10:00 pm EST the night before the class.

  • Project Proposal
    • Four-Paragraph guideline for your proposal.
    • Deadline: 9/30 by 10:00 pm EST.

  • Project Report
    • Conference-paper-style report.
    • Deadline: 11/25 by 10:00 pm EST.

Grading:
Grading breakdown:
  • Paper Review: 20%
  • Presentation: 20%
  • Project: 60%

Late assignment submission policy:
  • Within 24 hours after the assignment is due: 50% point deduction;
  • More than 24 hours late: 100% point deduction.

Schedule:

Date Topic Paper Presenter and Optional Reading
8/22 Introduction
8/24 Fundamentals
8/29 Fundamentals
  • Type analysis
  • Qirun
  • Readings:
    • [MS18] Chapter 3.
8/31 Range analysis
  • [PLDI'20] Towards a verified range analysis for JavaScript JITs
9/5 Fundamentals
  • Flow-sensitive analyses
  • Qirun
  • Readings:
    • [MS18] Chapters 4 and 5.
9/7 Graph reachability
  • [POPL'95] Precise Interprocedural Dataflow Analysis via Graph Reachability
9/12 Value-flow analysis
  • SVF: interprocedural static value-flow analysis in LLVM
  • TA
9/14 Symbolic Execution
  • Notes
  • Qirun
9/19 Value-flow analysis application
  • [TSE'14] Detecting Memory Leaks Statically with Full-Sparse Value-Flow Analysis
9/21 Translation Validation
  • [PLDI'21] Alive2: Bounded Translation Validation for LLVM
9/26 Floating-point safety
  • [PLDI'21] High Performance Correctly Rounded Math Libraries for 32-bit Floating Point Representations
9/28 Taint analysis
  • Notes
  • Qirun
10/3 Project Proposal
  • All
10/5 Compiler testing
  • [PLDI'17] Skeletal Program Enumeration for Rigorous Compiler Testing
10/10 No class
10/12 Fundamentals
  • Path sensitivity and relational analysis
  • Qirun
  • Readings:
    • [MS18] Chapter 7.
10/17 Path-sensitive analysis
  • [PLDI'21] Path-Sensitive Sparse Analysis without Path Conditions
10/19 GPU computing
  • [POPL'23] Taking Back Control in an Intermediate Representation for GPU Computing
10/24 Fundamentals
  • Interprocedural and context sensitive analysis
  • Qirun
  • Readings:
    • [MS18] Chapter 8.
10/26 Bug finding
  • [PLDI'22] Finding Typing Compiler Bugs
10/31 Fundamentals
  • Pointer analysis
  • Qirun
  • Readings:
    • [MS18] Chapter 10.
11/2 Fuzzing
  • [PLDI'23] Fuzzing Loop Optimizations in Compilers for C++ and Data-Parallel Languages
11/7 Random Testing
  • Notes
  • Qirun
11/9 WebAssembly
  • [PLDI'22] Finding the Dwarf: Recovering Pecise Types from WebAssembly Binaries
11/14 Delta debugging
  • Notes
  • Qirun
11/16 Test-case reduction
  • [PLDI'21] Test-Case Reduction and Deduplication Almost for Free with Transformation-Based Compiler Testing
11/21 Bounded model checking
  • [CAV'14] Bounded Model Checking of Multi-threaded C Programs via Lazy Sequentialization
11/23 No class
11/28 Final Presentation
  • All
11/30 Final Presentation
  • All

Misc:
If you have any concern, please send an email to the instructor. This link could help to send anonymous messages.

* In-person attendance is not enforced. We will record each lecture. The recorded video will be shared on Zoom.