Polyspace

Company: MathWorks

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• • Currently 4/5 Stars.
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  "Power changes everything"

  by jowen on Sep 9, 2011 8:44 PM

  Summary:
  Polyspace was very highly recommended, and it does not disappoint. Polyspace has been an effective programming tool. There are several different flavors, but we do a significant amount of our coding (and hence our testing) using C++. It isn’t really a dynamic analysis tool, but it is powerful enough to fake it, and its unique program analysis (abstract interpretation) means that it occupies a rare space in our shop. It is built for embedded systems, though it can probably tackle anything that uses C, C++, or Java.
  
  That said, it can be tedious, as the program will sometimes label functioning code as faulty code, even if it accomplishes what it needs to do. This can be tedious, especially if you’ve been running it for four days straight or have a hundred thousand lines of code (or more) to run, check, and rerun. Because of this, it doesn’t hurt to run another, smaller code analysis tool first, one that you know is reliable. This will save some time, and will save Polyspace for what it is really designed to do.
  

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• • Currently 5/5 Stars.
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  "A unique and powerful tool"

  by Ben_msft_314R2 on Sep 9, 2011 1:39 PM

  Summary:
  The power of PolySpace makes the training, analysis, and (often required) assistance in the use of PolySpace of the tool well worth it. Keep in mind that, in addition to assistance with use, it is also worth hiring a consultant to help you develop a strategy to integrate this powerful tool into your process. But, again, its well worth the hassle.
  
  Why is this program so powerful? For those who may not know: PolySpace is a tool for analyzing C, C++, and Ada source code for semantic errors and ambiguities. Through use of a proven pseudo-dynamic analysis technique that is currently unique to PolySpace, this tool can actually prove and document the absence of certain classes of hard to find errors.
  
  One of the tool’s strengths is that PolySpace tests code for errors such as occur with pointer out-of-bounds, array out-of-bounds, and divide-by-zero using a technique known as abstract interpretation. One problem is that, although the technique is very powerful, and while the analysis is guaranteed to catch every possibility of error in the class sought; false positives are somewhat common. Each is reported, and easily viewed in context using the viewer tool. However, false positives can be greatly reduced by use of configuration options and modeled stubs, and further reduced by adhering to certain programming practices. This last point makes it beneficial to integrate PolySpace into your development process as early in the coding as possible. Other features of PolySpace include limited lint-like abilities, and MISRA rule checking. It also generates complete control-flow and data-flow information.
  
  Lastly, PolySpace has recently received certification under IEC-61508 for use in verification of safety-critical software.
  

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