Patent ID: 7788646

Claim:
A method, executed by at least one processor, comprising: obtaining a set of hints for use in performing reachability analysis of a program, each hint defining a particular computational path of the program; determining an order to apply the hints to determine a plurality of first and second hints when performing the reachability analysis comprising: determining that a variable which is set in the program path defined by the first hint is used in a program path defined by the second hint; and prioritizing the first hint over the second hint; and checking a validity of a determination that a variable which is set in the program path defined by one of the hints is used in a program path defined by another of the hints, wherein the variable is set in a first statement and used in a second statement, comprising: associating a setting of a token variable to a first predetermined value with the first statement; associating with any statements between the first and second statements which modify the value of the variable, the setting of the token variable to a second predetermined value; and determining that the data dependency does not exist if the second statement is not reachable with the token variable set to the first predetermined value.