Course detail

Formal Program Analysis

FIT-FADAcad. year: 2025/2026

An overview of various methods of analysis and verification of programs with formal roots. Model checking: basic principles, specification of properties to be verified, temporal logics, the state explosion problem and existing approaches to solving it, binary decision diagrams, automated abstraction (with a stress on predicate abstraction that plays a key role in software model checking). Various approaches to static analysis: dataflow analysis, pointer analyses, constraint-based analysis, type analysis, abstract interpretation. Deductive verification, SAT solving, SMT solving, symbolic execution. Dynamic analysis with a formal basis, algorithms like FastTrack or dynamic partial order reduction.

Areas for the Doctoral State Exam:

1. Temporal logics LTL, CTL, and CTL*.
2. Büchi automata and LTL model checking based on them.
3. CTL model checking.
4. Binary decision diagrams.
5. Predicate abstraction.
6. Abstract interpretation.
7. Data-flow analysis.
8. SAT solving and SMT solving.
9. Symbolic execution.
10. Deductive verification.

Language of instruction

Czech

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

prof. Ing. Tomáš Vojnar, Ph.D.

Department

Department of Intelligent Systems (UITS)

Entry knowledge

Acquaintance with basics of logics, algebra, graph theory, theory of formal languages and automata, compilers, and computability and complexity.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Discussions within the lectures, a check of the prepared report.
Lectures and a preparation of a report.

Aims

The goal of the course is to acquaint the students with principles, possibilities, and restrictions of the currently most successful methods known, resp. being studied, in the area of applying formal methods for automated analysis and verification of programs.
Acquaintance with possibilities, limitations, and principles of state-of-the-art methods of program analysis on a formal basis. Ability to apply them in advanced projects and overall knowledge of the way these techniques can evolve in the future.
A deeper ability to read and create formal texts.

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Berard, B., Bidoit, M., Finkel, A., Laroussinie, F., Petit, A., Petrucci, L., Schnoebelen, P., McKenzie, P.: Systems and Software Verification: Model-Checking Techniques and Tools, Springer-Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-540-41523-8 
Clarke, E.M., Grumberg, O., Peled, D.A.: Model Checking, MIT Press, 2000. ISBN 0-262-03270-8 
Monin, J.F., Hinchey, M.G.: Understanding Formal Methods, Springer-Verlag, 2003. ISBN 1-852-33247-6 
Nielson, F., Nielson, H.R., Hankin, C.: Principles of Program Analysis, Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 3-540-65410-0 
Schwartzbach, M.I.: Lecture Notes on Static Analysis, BRICS, Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark, 2006. 
Valmari, A.: The State Explosion Problem. In Reisig, W., Rozenberg, G.: Lectures on Petri Nets I: Basic Models, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, č.1491, s. 429-528. Springer-Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3-540-65306-6 

Recommended reading

Aho, A.V., Lam, S., Sethi, R., Ullman, J.D.: Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools. Addison Wesley, 2nd ed., 2006. (Část věnovaná statické analýze.)
Ben-Ari, M.: Principles of the Spin Model Checker, Springer, 2008.
Bradley, A.R., Manna, Z.: The Calculus of Computation: Decision Procedures with Applications to Verification, Springer, 2007.
Holzmann, G.J.: The SPIN Model Checker: Primer and Reference Manual, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2003.
Kroening, D., Strichman, O.: Decision Procedures: An Algorithmic Point of View, Springer, 2008.
Materiály aktuálně volně dostupné na Internetu, a to zejména články a dokumentace týkající se počítačových nástrojů pro formální analýzu a verifikaci.
Moller, A., Schwartzbach, M.I.: Static Program Analysis, Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2018.
Nielson, F., Nielson, H.R., Hankin, C.: Principles of Program Analysis, Springer-Verlag, 2005.
Soubor materiálů prezentovaných na přednáškách a zveřejněných přes WWW.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme DIT Doctoral 0 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
  • Programme DIT Doctoral 0 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
  • Programme DIT-EN Doctoral 0 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
  • Programme DIT-EN Doctoral 0 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

prof. Ing. Tomáš Vojnar, Ph.D.
Ing. Ondřej Lengál, Ph.D.

Syllabus

  1. An overview of existing methods of formal analysis and verification of programs, their capabilities, advantages and disadvantages.
  2. Model checking: basic principles, specification of properties to be checked, temporal logics.
  3. LTL model checking based on automata.
  4. The state explosion problem and possibilities of fighting it, efficient state space storage, binary decision diagrams.
  5. State space reductions, especially the partial-order reduction.
  6. Automated abstraction with a stress on predicate abstraction, Craig interpolants.
  7. Symbolic execution.
  8. Deductive verification.
  9. SAT solving, SMT solving.
  10. Static analysis based on dataflow analysis, pointer analyses.
  11. Constraint-based static analysis, type analysis.
  12. Abstract interpretation.
  13. Dynamic analysis on a formal basis, algorithms like FastTrack, dynamic partial-order reduction.

Guided consultation in combined form of studies

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

prof. Ing. Tomáš Vojnar, Ph.D.