Towards Analyzing N-language Polyglot Programs

TL;DR

This paper explores the challenges of analyzing multi-language polyglot programs involving three or more languages, proposing a conceptual roadmap to develop scalable, language-agnostic static analysis techniques for complex modern systems.

Contribution

It identifies key challenges and outlines a conceptual framework to advance static analysis for multi-language polyglot programs involving three or more languages.

Findings

Identified fundamental challenges in analyzing three-language polyglot systems.

Proposed a conceptual roadmap for scalable static analysis techniques.

Aims to inspire future research in language-agnostic analysis frameworks.

Abstract

Polyglot programming is gaining popularity as developers integrate multiple programming languages to harness their individual strengths. With the recent popularity of platforms like GraalVM and other multi-language runtimes, creating and managing these systems has become much more feasible. However, current research on analyzing multilingual programs mainly focuses on two languages, leaving out the increasing complexity of systems that use three or more. For example, modern web systems often link JavaScript, WebAssembly, and Rust within the same execution chain. This paper envisions the landscape of software systems with three-language polyglot communication. We identify fundamental challenges in analyzing them and propose a conceptual roadmap to advance static analysis techniques to address them. Our vision aims to stimulate discussion and inspire new research directions toward scalable, language-agnostic analysis frameworks for next-generation polyglot systems.