Hanne R. Nielson - Böcker

This book presents the refereed proceedings of the Sixth European Symposium on Programming, ESOP '96, held in Linköping, Sweden, in April 1996.The 23 revised full papers included were selected from a total of 63 submissions; also included are invited papers by Cliff B. Jones and by Simon L. Peyton Jones. The book is devoted to fundamental issues in the specification, analysis, and implementation of programming languages and systems; the emphasis is on research issues bridging the gap between theory and practice. Among the topics addressed are software specification and verification, programming paradigms, program semantics, advanced type systems, program analysis, program transformation, and implementation techniques.

Program analysis concerns static techniques for computing reliable approximate information about the dynamic behaviour of programs. Applications include compilers (for code improvement), software validation (for detecting errors in algorithms or breaches of security) and transformations between data representation (for solving problems such as the Y2K problem). This book is unique in giving an overview of the four major approaches to program analysis: data flow analysis, constraint based analysis, abstract interpretation, and type and effect systems. The presentation demonstrates the extensive similarities between the approaches; this will aid the reader in choosing the right approach and in enhancing it with insights from the other approaches. The book covers basic semantic properties as well as more advanced algorithmic techniques. The book is aimed at M.Sc. and Ph.D. students but will be valuable also for experienced researchers and professionals.