Interval-based resource usage verification: Formalization and prototype

Abstract

In an increasing number of applications (e.g., in embedded, real-time, or mobile systems) it is important or even essential to ensure conformance with respect to a specification expressing resource usages, such as execution time, memory, energy, or user-defined resources. In previous work we have presented a novel framework for data size-aware, static resource usage verification. Specifications can include both lower and upper bound resource usage functions. In order to statically check such specifications, both upper- and lower-bound resource usage functions (on input data sizes) approximating the actual resource usage of the program which are automatically inferred and compared against the specification. The outcome of the static checking of assertions can express intervals for the input data sizes such that a given specification can be proved for some intervals but disproved for others. After an overview of the approach in this paper we provide a number of novel contributions: we present a full formalization, and we report on and provide results from an implementation within the Ciao/CiaoPP framework (which provides a general, unified platform for static and run-time verification, as well as unit testing). We also generalize the checking of assertions to allow preconditions expressing intervals within which the input data size of a program is supposed to lie (i.e., intervals for which each assertion is applicable), and we extend the class of resource usage functions that can be checked.