Static analysis advances from one core to - more
ProductJune 22, 2011
Alice Moss
Military Embedded Systems
Chris A. Ciufo
General Micro Systems, Inc.
Not just a popular engineering trade-show lunchtime topic, multicore processors such as the recently released Intel Core i7 Gen 2 really are proving themselves a revolutionary force in speeding up defense and other embedded applications.
Not just a popular engineering trade-show lunchtime topic, multicore processors such as the recently released Intel Core i7 Gen 2 really are proving themselves a revolutionary force in speeding up defense and other embedded applications. However, developers know that locating those subtle hiccups in software code can be a real challenge – one that GrammaTech, Inc. aims to thwart with its new multicore program analysis engine. Whereas static analysis tools for single-core software code are relatively polished, multicore static analysis is a tough proposition; that’s why DARPA offered GrammaTech a $749,000 contract to produce this new multicore analysis engine.
The engine’s mission, true to the static-analysis modus operandi, is to search out complex multicore code bugs, particularly those that are intermittent and therefore difficult to spot – without testing. The engine can additionally analyze multithreaded apps on a single processor. Destined for integration on GrammaTech’s CodeSonar static-analysis tool, the multicore program-analysis engine – rather than actually running code – renders an abstract model illustrating which of the multicore threads hold which locks, and thereafter analyzes possible interleavings. Compatible with compilers such as Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Green Hills, Intel C/C++, Wind River, ARM RealView, Texas Instruments, and myriad others, this multicore program-analysis engine saves time and finds those bugs missed by overworked developers manually scouring code for errors.
