INTELLECT : INTErmediate-Language LEvel C Translator

Static analysis tools have proven to be valuable in detecting software bugs in early development stages. As Java emerges to be the language of choice for software developers, many Java analysis tools have been developed. Since many properties that are checked by these tools are also desirable in C programs, it makes sense to make these analyses available for software written in C. In this paper we present an intermediate language level C to Java translator called INTELLECT. INTELLECT preserves the precise control and data information needed by static analysis tools such that no information is lost due to the translation from the perspective of static analysis. Our experiments demonstrate that INTELLECT is sufficiently robust – it successfully translated a subsystem of a complex embedded kernel written in C. We were also able to apply analyses originally developed for Java on the translated code. Thus we believe that building such a C to Java translator is practical, and that such a tool can facilitate the reuse of existing and future Java analysis tools on programs written in C, thus greatly enhancing the return on the cost of developing such tools.