Abstract:

Automated static analysis tools are widely used in identifying software anomalies, such as memory leak, unsafe thread synchronization and malicious behaviors in smartphone applications. Such anomaly-prone scenarios can be bifurcated into: “ordinary” (analysis requires relatively simple automation) and “complex” (analysis poses extraordinary automation challenges). While automated static analysis tools can resolve ordinary scenarios with high accuracy, automating the analysis of complex scenarios can be very challenging and, at times, infeasible. Even when feasible the cost for full automation can be exorbitant: either in implementing the automation or in sifting through the large number of erroneous results manually. Instead, we appeal for a “Human-in-the-loop” approach called “Amplified Reasoning Technique” (ART). While some of the existing approaches do involve human in the analysis process, the roles played by man and machine are mainly segregated. Whereas, ART puts man and machine in a “loop” in an interactive and visualization-based fashion. This paper makes an attempt to convince its readers to make their analysis of software anomalies ART-based by presenting real-world case studies of complex anomalies and how an ART based approach can be very effective in resolving them. The case studies highlight the desired characteristics of an ART based tool and the type of role it plays in amplifying human intelligence.

Venue: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2014), San Diego, California, October 2014.

Authors: Suresh Kothari, Akshay Deepak, Ahmed Tamrawi, Benjamin Holland, Sandeep Krishnan

Paper (PDF): ART-SMC2014.pdf

Bibtex:
@INPROCEEDINGS{6974210,
author={S. Kothari and A. Deepak and A. Tamrawi and B. Holland and S. Krishnan},
booktitle={2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC)},
title={A #x201C;Human-in-the-loop #x201D; approach for resolving complex software anomalies},
year={2014},
pages={1971-1978},
keywords={inference mechanisms;program diagnostics;ART;amplified reasoning technique;automated static analysis tools;complex software anomalies;human intelligence;human-in-the-loop approach;malicious behaviors;memory leak;smartphone applications;software anomalies;unsafe thread synchronization;Automation;Kernel;Linux;Programming;Subspace constraints;Synchronization;assistive technology;automated analysis;human-in-the-loop;software engineering},
doi={10.1109/SMC.2014.6974210},
ISSN={1062-922X},
month={Oct},}