(In: K. Beiersdörfer, G. Engels, and W. Schäfer: Informatik'99, Springer, 1999, pages 380-389)
Abstract: Although GOTO has long been criticized for being ``unstructured'' and causing ``unreliable'' programs, it is still provided even by new languages, and actually used in practice. Why? This paper presents the results of a study in which we analyzed the frequency and typical applications of GOTO in over 400 MB of C and Ada source code. The frequency analysis showed a large difference in GOTO density. The usage analysis demonstrated that the availability of sufficiently powerful control structures significantly reduces the frequency of GOTO. Relating these results to error rates reported for large software projects indicates that programs written in languages with lower GOTO density are more reliable.
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(In: Compiler Construction -- 7th International Conference, CC'98, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1383, Springer 1998, Pages 1-15)
Abstract: Finite automata and their application in lexical analysis play an important role in many parts of computer science and particularly in compiler constructions. We measured 12 scanners using different implementation strategies and found that the execution time differed by a factor of 74. Our analysis of the algorithms as well as run-time statistics on cache misses and instruction frequency reveals substantive differences in code locality and certain kinds of overhead typical for specific implementation strategies. Some of the traditional statements on writing ``fast'' scanners could not be confirmed. Finally, we suggest an improved scanner generator.
Unfortunately but understandable, the publisher no longer allows to provide full text on WWW pages. However, for the purpose of citing you can download figure 2 (20 KB Encapsulated Postscript), figure 3 (19 KB Encapsulated Postscript), figure 4 (20 KB Encapsulated Postscript), and figure 5 (2 KB LaTeX source). (The Postscript files work with LaTeX 2e but depending on your particular software you might have to edit the bounding box statement at the beginning of the file.) And here is the BibTeX item.
(In: Reliable Software Technologies -- Ada-Europe 1997, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1251, Springer 1997, Pages 161-172)
Abstract: Aliasing is an old but yet unsolved problem, being disadvantegous for most aspects of programming languages. We suggest a new model for variables which avoids aliasing by maintaining the property of always having exactly one access path to a variable. In particular, variables have no address. We develop rules for a language using these variables which can be checked in local context and we suggest programming guidelines to prevent alias effects in Ada 95 programs.
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(In: Proceedings of the ISCA International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems 1996, published by the Society for Computers and Their Applications (ISCA) in cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society 1996, Volume I, pages 110-118)
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study in which we examined about 50 massively parallel programming languages in order to detect typical approaches towards supporting parallelism. Based on a classification into nine classes, semantic properties affecting the development of parallel programs are compared. From a consideration of the general function of programming languages in software engineering, we derive basic requirements on parallel languages.
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(In: Reliable Software Technologies -- Ada-Europe 1996, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1088, pages 385-395)
Abstract: Although GOTO has long been criticized for being ``unstructured'' and causing ``unreliable'' programs, it is still in use and even modern languages like Ada95 provide GOTO. Why? This paper presents the results of a study in which we examined 316 MB of Ada source code in order to find the frequency and typical applications of GOTO. It turned out that about 99% of all examined files do not contain any GOTO , but we also found ``spaghetti code'', generally justified by efficiency arguments. We analyzed whether GOTO really improved efficiency and examined sources containing GOTO by code inspection in order to determine its typical applications.
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(In: PARS Mitteilungen (PARS-Workshop 1993 in Dresden), Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Fachgruppe Parallel-Algorithmen und Rechnerstrukturen, Seite 127-140),
Kurzfassung: Anhand einer Klassifizierung von Parallelrechnersprachen wird ein Überblick über bisherige Entwicklungen gegeben. Charakteristische Eigenschaften typischer Sprachklassen werden herausgearbeitet und durch kurze Beispiele verdeutlicht. Die Anforderungen an Programme und Programmiersprachen sowie spezielle Eigenschaften von Parallelrechnersprachen werden erörtert, wobei die Frage der automatischen Transformierbarkeit auf unterschiedliche Hardware-Architekturen im Vordergrund steht. Ausgehend von diesen Ergebnissen werden die wesentlichen Entwurfsprinzipien von ASL-II begründet.
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