Good introductory text on static analysis for bug finding?

Question

I'm looking for a good introductory text on the theory of static analysis for bug finding. Any recommendations?

Answer 1

Is the wikipedia article introductory enough? It has many links to more in depth information.

There's also a podcast on software engineering radio.

Here, here and here are some academic papers, but they may be harder to read and to understand.

Answer 2

Try this paper which was the first to introduce what became Microsoft's Prefast tool. That's one of the most successful static analysis tools.

Answer 3

• Patrick Cousot and Radhia Cousot, "Basic Concepts of Abstract Interpretation."
• Patrick Cousot, "Abstract Interpretation Based Formal Methods and Future Challenges."
• Bruno Blanchet et al., "A Static Analyzer for Large Safety-Critical Software."
• Jérôme Feret, "Static Analysis of Digital Filters."
• Antoine Miné, "Relational abstract domains for the detection of floating-point run-time errors." (PDF)
• Airbus France: Computing the Worst-Case Execution Time of an Avionics Program by Abstract Interpretation (PDF)
• Program Analyzer Generator: Related White Papers

Answer 4

See this question.