Applying static analysis to software architectures

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate how static concurrency analysis techniques can be used to verify application-specific properties of an architecture description. Specifically, we use two concurrency analysis tools, INCA, a flow equation based tool, and FLAVERS, a data flow analysis based tool, to detect errors or prove properties of a WRIGHT architecture description of the gas station problem. Although both these tools are research prototypes, they illustrate the potential of static analysis for verifying that architecture descriptions adhere to important properties, for detecting problems early in the lifecycle, and for helping developers understand the changes that need to be made to satisfy the properties being analyzed.