On the Power and Limitations of Strictness Analysis On the Power and Limitations of Strictness Analysis Strictness analysis is an important technique for optimization of lazy functional languages. It is well known that all strictness analysis methods are incomplete , i.e., fail to report some strictness properties. In this paper, we provide the first precise and formal characterization of the loss of information that leads to this incompleteness.
P iff the property is independent of any constant appearing in any evaluation of P .
It can be used to answer questions on completeness and incompleteness of Mycroft's method on certain natural classes of programs. Finally, the techniques developed in this paper provide a general principle for establishing similar results for other strictness analysis methods such as those based on abstract interpretation. As a demonstration of the generality of our technique, we give a characterization theorem for another variation of Mycroft's method called dd-analysis.