Efficient and Precise Modeling of Exceptions for the Analysis of Java Programs

Abstract

The Factored Control Flow Graph, FCFG, is a novel representation of a program's intraprocedural control flow, which is designed to efficiently support the analysis of programs written in languages, such as Java, that have frequently occurring operations whose execution may result in exceptional control flow. The FCFG is more compact than traditional CFG representations for exceptional control flow, yet there is no loss of precision in using the FCFG. In this paper, we introduce the FCFG representation and outline how standard forward and backward data flow analysis algorithms can be adapted to work on this representation. We also present empirical measurements of FCFG sizes for a large number of methods obtained from a variety of Java programs, and compare these sizes with those of a traditional CFG representation.