LOGIN | REGISTER NOW | SUBSCRIBE
 
print Printable version 
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Does Windows cost Microsoft opportunities?
Microsoft's decision to focus .NET on Windows is stifling innovation due to the specter of...

Mono brings .NET to Android
At Microsoft MIX, Mono will unveil the ability to port .NET applications to the Android op...

Going 'all in' on .NET as default runtime
Programmers for Windows Phone 7 will need to use Silverlight and XNA for development

Digg!  Digg
Reddit  Reddit
Slashdot  Slashdot
Share on facebook  Facebook
Share on Twitter  Twitter

Erasing Race Conditions


Coverity’s static analysis tools attempt to automate defect testing

By David Worthington
January 15, 2008 — 
Coverity again is helping to unwind the intricacies of multithreaded applications and make testing for concurrency defects more automated and less like threading a needle.

An update to Coverity Prevent SQS (Software Quality System), released Dec. 11, introduces concurrency defect detection capabilities for C, C++ and Java applications. The new technology identifies deadlocks, race conditions and thread blocks that may lead to application bottlenecks and failures, or information loss.

An interface was added to help developers understand the interleavings that exist in multithreaded applications and manifest the possible executions of a parallel program.

Coverity’s chief technology officer Ben Chelf explained that Prevent SQS uses deep interprocedural analysis to understand how locks that protect access points in parallel programming are acquired in a codebase. That ability is coupled with Coverity’s SAT (as in Boolean Satisfiability) engine to reduce instances of false positives.

The SAT engine—concerned with whether a Boolean expression has a solution—debuted in September 2007 as a complement to the company’s data flow analysis engine.

Chelf said that the advantage of using static analysis to test for concurrency defects is that developers do not need to worry about the particulars of scheduling while testing. “It removes dependence on scheduling variables,” he said.

“To remain competitive, software companies need to support multicore hardware, which will make multithreaded applications inevitable for most developers,” Theresa Lanowitz, founder of analyst firm Voke, said in a prepared statement. “The challenge for developers is that multithreaded applications add complexity to the application life cycle, requiring new expertise and technology to maintain application quality and security.”


Share this link: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/31658
 

Add comment


Name*
Email*  
Country     


  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading



 
 
 
 
News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>


   

 
 
Download Current Issue
ISSUE 3/15/2010 PDF

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Receive the print Edition?


 
blogs tab
Google Code turns 5
Google Code Turns 5, and adds a Paxos Algorithm to make the system more stable and reliable.
03/17/2010 11:16 AM EST

Test your Visual Studio 2010 know-how
Microsoft is offering free beta certification exams for Visual Studio 2010.
03/17/2010 11:08 AM EST

Microsoft lifts the hood on IE9
Microsoft is previewing IE9.
03/16/2010 01:10 PM EST

 

Events calendar tab
EclipseCon
3/22/2010 to 3/25/2010
Santa Clara, Calif.
The Eclipse Foundation

DevConnections
4/12/2010 to 4/14/2010
Las Vegas
Penton Media

MySQL Conf. and Expo
4/12/2010 to 4/15/2010
Santa Clara, Calif.
O'Reilly Media

High Performance Computing Linux Financial Markets
4/19/2010
New York City
Flagg Management

Informix User Conf.
4/25/2010 to 4/28/2010
Overland Park, Kans.
IIUG