Microsoft http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/terminator Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/terminator en Thu, 23 May 2013 01:10:09 GMT Thu, 23 May 2013 01:10:09 GMT Rev9 2 1 25 interviewed Byron Cook, a researcher at MSR Cambridge, about his work on Terminator, which is a proof-based analysis tool used for proving that good things will eventually happen in unmanaged code paths. That is, it's a very good thing for code to stop executing eventually otherwise system hangs occur (drivers are the number one cause of system hangs and other undesirable system-wide problems).

Terminator is designed to help developers find bugs in their code that cause non-terminating execution. Many of you provided feedback after the last interview that Byron should have gone a bit deeper into the technology, including whiteboarding proofs. Well, he was recently in Redmond and agreed to be the next participant in Going Deep. 

Here we dig into the details of Terminator on the whiteboard and even see a demo of Terminator running over some DDK (Driver Development Kit) sample C code.

Fasten your seat belts. We do jump head first into the rabbit hole.

Enjoy! 


PS: The Download file (pointed to from the Download button below) was encoded at 512Kbs. If you want a higher bit rate file you can click here. ]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Byron-Cook-Inside-Terminator A few months ago, I interviewed Byron Cook, a researcher at MSR Cambridge, about his work on Terminator, which is a proof-based analysis tool used for proving that good things will eventually happen in unmanaged code paths. That is, it's a very good thing for code to stop executing eventually otherwise system hangs occur (drivers are the number one cause of system hangs and other undesirable system-wide problems). Terminator is designed to help developers find bugs in their code that cause non-terminating execution. Many of you provided feedback after the last interview that Byron should have gone a bit deeper into the technology, including whiteboarding proofs. Well, he was recently in Redmond and agreed to be the next participant in Going Deep. Here we dig into the details of Terminator on the whiteboard and even see a demo of Terminator running over some DDK (Driver Development Kit) sample C code. Fasten your seat belts. We do jump head first into the rabbit hole.Enjoy! PS: The Download file (pointed to from the Download button below) was encoded at 512Kbs. If you want a higher bit rate file you can click here. 3048 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Byron-Cook-Inside-Terminator Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:24:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Byron-Cook-Inside-Terminator Charles Charles 8 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Byron-Cook-Inside-Terminator/RSS Analysis Tools Byron Cook C++ Microsoft Research MS Research Programming Terminator MSR Cambridge (much more to come). This time, I was lucky enough to get some time with Byron Cook, a researcher in MSR's Programming Principles and Tools group focusing on static analysis of system code to hunt for algorithms and code fragments that will most likely induce a system state lovingly referred to by all as a Hang. You know, when nothing seems to work anymore, you can't use your mouse or keyboard, windows are frozen in time and you resort to a hard reboot. Well, what is a hang, exactly? How is a hang directly related to events? Did you know that a typical hang is event-related (never ending event response) caused by kernel mode code (drivers mostly) that never, well, terminates?

Byron and team have written a very interesting tool that analyzes code, tests it against proofs of correctness (mathematical proofs, indeed) and alerts developers at design time that some code they've written is heading down a very slippery slope that will end in a hang. Terminator is proof based. OK. How does Terminator work, you ask? Proofs? It's all about prooving termination.

Please tune in and find out. This is a really cool introduction to the notion of mathematically prooving that good things will eventually happen in code.

PS. I just found out that, like myself, Byron is an Evergreen State College alumnus. Small world! ]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/Byron-Cook-Terminator-Proving-Good-Things-Will-Eventually-Happen Here's another installment from MSR Cambridge (much more to come). This time, I was lucky enough to get some time with Byron Cook, a researcher in MSR's Programming Principles and Tools group focusing on static analysis of system code to hunt for algorithms and code fragments that will most likely induce a system state lovingly referred to by all as a Hang. You know, when nothing seems to work anymore, you can't use your mouse or keyboard, windows are frozen in time and you resort to a hard reboot. Well, what is a hang, exactly? How is a hang directly related to events? Did you know that a typical hang is event-related (never ending event response) caused by kernel mode code (drivers mostly) that never, well, terminates?Byron and team have written a very interesting tool that analyzes code, tests it against proofs of correctness (mathematical proofs, indeed) and alerts developers at design time that some code they've written is heading down a very slippery slope that will end in a hang. Terminator is proof based. OK. How does Terminator work, you ask? Proofs? It's all about prooving termination. Please tune in and find out. This is a really cool introduction to the notion of mathematically prooving that good things will eventually happen in code.PS. I just found out that, like myself, Byron is an Evergreen State College alumnus. Small world! 925 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/Byron-Cook-Terminator-Proving-Good-Things-Will-Eventually-Happen Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:31:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/Byron-Cook-Terminator-Proving-Good-Things-Will-Eventually-Happen Charles Charles 6 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/Byron-Cook-Terminator-Proving-Good-Things-Will-Eventually-Happen/RSS Byron Cook C++ Drivers Microsoft Research MS Research MSR Cambridge 10Years Programming Terminator