This paper introduces iProperty, a novel approach that facilitates incremental checking of programs based on a property differencing technique. Specifically, iProperty aims to reduce the cost of checking properties as they are initially developed and as they co-evolve with the program. The key novelty of iProperty is to compute the differences between the new and old versions of expected properties to reduce the number and size of the properties that need to be checked during the initial development of the properties. Furthermore, property differencing is used in synergy with program behavior differencing techniques to optimize common regression scenarios, such as detecting regression errors or checking feature additions for conformance to new expected properties. Experimental results in the context of symbolic execution of Java programs annotated with properties written as assertions show the effectiveness of iProperty in utilizing change information to enable more efficient checking.
iProperty REF computes differences between assertions of related programs in a manner that facilitates more efficient incremental checking of conformance of programs to properties.
Property differencing for incremental checking
ICSE 2014
Computer Science