Higher-Order Bounded Model Checking

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bounded model checking approach for higher-order programs using SMT solvers, enabling verification of complex functional code with improved scalability and practical implementation.

Contribution

It presents a novel symbolic translation technique for higher-order programs, proves its soundness, and demonstrates its effectiveness through a prototype and experimental results.

Findings

Algorithm is sound for higher-order programs.

Points-to analysis improves scalability.

Prototype shows promising performance.

Abstract

We present a Bounded Model Checking technique for higher-order programs. The vehicle of our study is a higher-order calculus with general references. Our technique is a symbolic state syntactical translation based on SMT solvers, adapted to a setting where the values passed and stored during computation can be functions of arbitrary order. We prove that our algorithm is sound, and devise an optimisation based on points-to analysis to improve scalability. We moreover provide a prototype implementation of the algorithm with experimental results showcasing its performance.