Escaping Infinite Loops

twocentplain writes in with an MIT news release about Jolt, a research project designed to unfreeze software stuck in an infinite loop (for a subset of infinite loops). It uses a combination of static instrumentation (using LLVM) and a run time watchdog that checks the program state during loop iteration; when a duplicate state is detected it permits the user to take one a few actions to escape the loop. The authors claim it works well enough that the program can often continue operating properly. The original paper contains detailed case studies.

Comments

Really interesting

[Harald Paulsen]

That's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
# duplicate state detected, jumping loop
Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do..

Halting Problem

[krovisser]

So we've solved the halting problem.

By making it the user's problem?

Wait a second...

Re:Easy...

[Baloroth]

I always thought the best method of getting out of infinite loops was to not have infinite loops. Everybody loves watchdogs and timers but they would be a reactive fix rather than a proactive fix.

I always thought the best method of getting out of infinite loops was to not have infinite loops. Everybody loves watchdogs and timers but they would be a reactive fix rather than a proactive fix.