946209
A new model of program dependences for reverse engineering
A dependence model for reverse engineering should treat procedures in a modular fashion and should be fine-grained, distinguishing dependences that are due to different variables. The program dependence graph (PDG) satisfies neither of these criteria. We present a new form of dependence graph that satisfies both, while retaining the advantages of the PDG: it is easy to construct and allows program slicing to be implemented as a simple graph traversal. We define 'chopping', a generalization of slicing that can express most of its variants, and show that, using our dependence graph, it produces more accurate results than algorithms based directly on the PDG.
15229178
Faster checking of software specifications by eliminating isomorphs
Both software specifications and their intended properties can be expressed in a simple relational language. The claim that a specification satisfies a property becomes a relational formula that can be checked automatically by enumerating the formula's interpretations. Because the number of interpretations is usually huge, this approach has not been thought to be practical. But by eliminating isomorphic interpretations, the enumeration can be reduced substantially, with a factor of roughly k! contributed by each type of k elements.
40941890
The Quadrangulation Conjecture for Orientable Surfaces
By means of character theory and symmetric functions, D. M. Jackson and T. I. Visentin (1990, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 322, (343-363)) proved the existence of certain bijections between the set of quadrangulations in orientable surfaces and decorated maps (with marked edges and coloured vertices) in orientable surfaces. The bijections preserve a weight function consisting of a pair (g,n) of integer parameters. For quadrangulations, g is the genus and n is the number of faces. For decorated maps, g is the genus plus half the number of white vertices and n is the number of edges. The Quadrangulation Conjecture concerns the problem of finding a natural bijection of this type. Tutte's medial construction is a solution in the special case g = 0 of planar maps. We give a construction of a bijection ??Ξ which both extends Tutte's medial construction to non-planar maps and preserves the parameter n of the Quadrangulation Conjecture. (The parameter g is not generally preserved, except when g = 0.) Non-orientable surfaces play an important part in the construction of ??Ξ. As part of the construction, we introduce a bijection between orientable rooted quadrangulations and locally orientable, bipartite, rooted quadrangulations.
7746968
Faster fractal image compression using quadtree recomposition
In this paper, we present a fractal image compression algorithm employing a new quadtree recomposition (QR) approach. In this approach, quadtree subblocks of an image are iteratively recombined into larger blocks for fractal coding. For complex images, this approach exhibits superior runtime performance, when compared to a classical quadtree decomposition (QD) scheme, while maintaining high fidelity for reconstructed images. Quantitative results include an evaluation of attained compression ratios, runtime performance, and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) for reconstructed images.
14356359
Decision and Separability Problems for Baumslag-Solitar Semigroups
We show that the semigroups Sk,l having semigroup presentations are residually finite and finitely separable. Generally, these semigroups have finite separating images which are finite groups and other finite separating images which are semigroups of order-increasing transformations on a finite partially ordered set. These semigroups thus have vastly different residual and separability properties than the Baumslag–Solitar groups which contain them.
44859424
Lightweight Extraction of Object Models from Bytecode
22255150
Lightweight Formal Methods
Formal methods have offered great benefits, but often at a heavy price. For everyday software development, in which the pressures of the market don't allow full-scale formal methods to be applied, a more lightweight approach is called for. I'll outline an approach that is designed to provide immediate benefit at relatively low cost. Its elements are a small and succinct modelling language, and a fully automatic analysis scheme that can perform simulations and find errors. I'll describe some recent case studies using this approach, involving naming schemes, architectural styles, and protocols for networks with changing topologies. I'll make some controversial claims about this approach and its relationship to UML and traditional formal specification approaches, and I'll barbeque some sacred cows, such as the belief that executability compromises abstraction.