On the complexity of partially-flow-sensitive alias analysis

We introduce the notion of a partially-flow-sensitive analysis based on the number of read and write operations that are guaranteed to be analyzed in a sequential manner. We study the complexity of partially-flow-sensitive alias analysis and show that precise alias analysis with a very limited flow-sensitivity is as hard as precise flow-sensitive alias analysis, both when dynamic memory allocation is allowed, as well as in the absence of dynamic memory allocation. © 2008 ACM.