eprintid: 1470412 rev_number: 36 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/47/04/12 datestamp: 2017-05-25 13:53:27 lastmod: 2021-11-29 23:50:09 status_changed: 2017-05-25 13:53:27 type: proceedings_section metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Binkley, D creators_name: Gold, N creators_name: Harman, M creators_name: Islam, S creators_name: Krinke, J creators_name: Yoo, S title: ORBS and the Limits of Static Slicing ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C05 divisions: F48 keywords: Science & Technology, Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications, Engineering, Electrical & Electronic, Computer Science, Engineering note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. abstract: Observation-based slicing is a recently-introduced, language-independent slicing technique based on the dependencies observable from program behaviour. Due to the well-known limits of dynamic analysis, we may only compute an under-approximation of the true observation-based slice. However, because the observation-based slice captures all possible dependence that can be observed, even such approximations can yield insight into the limitations of static slicing. For example, a static slice, S, that is strictly smaller than the corresponding observation based slice is potentially unsafe. We present the results of three sets of experiments on 12 different programs, including benchmarks and larger programs, which investigate the relationship between static and observation-based slicing. We show that, in extreme cases, observation-based slices can find the true minimal static slice, where static techniques cannot. For more typical cases, our results illustrate the potential for observation-based slicing to highlight limitations in static slicers. Finally, we report on the sensitivity of observation-based slicing to test quality. date: 2015-09-28 date_type: published publisher: IEEE official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/SCAM.2015.7335396 oa_status: green full_text_type: other language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1046218 doi: 10.1109/SCAM.2015.7335396 isbn_13: 9781467375290 lyricists_name: Gold, Nicolas lyricists_name: Harman, Mark lyricists_name: Krinke, Jens lyricists_id: NGOLD19 lyricists_id: MHARM36 lyricists_id: JKRIN96 actors_name: Gold, Nicolas actors_id: NGOLD19 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public series: IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation publication: 2015 IEEE 15TH INTERNATIONAL WORKING CONFERENCE ON SOURCE CODE ANALYSIS AND MANIPULATION (SCAM) volume: 15 place_of_pub: Bremen, Germany pagerange: 1-10 pages: 10 event_title: 15th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) event_location: Bremen, GERMANY event_dates: 27 September 2015 - 28 September 2015 institution: 15th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation issn: 1942-5430 book_title: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) citation: Binkley, D; Gold, N; Harman, M; Islam, S; Krinke, J; Yoo, S; (2015) ORBS and the Limits of Static Slicing. In: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM). (pp. pp. 1-10). IEEE: Bremen, Germany. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1470412/1/scam15.pdf