Analysis of Java Program Errors using FTA

This paper describes the result of analyzing various errors possibly existing in programs in Java, including run time errors and infinite loops, using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). FTA is a commonly used technique for safety analysis in a top-down manner for safety-critical systems, such as a nuclear plant or a transport system, but is rarely applied in identifying program errors. In this paper, we focus on applying FTA to analyze all kinds of RuntimeException errors and infinite loop errors by decomposing abstract errors into concrete errors and to represent the hierarchical structure of the relation among different kinds of errors. As a result, seven types of infinite loop errors are summarized; forty-seven subclasses of RuntimeException errors are analyzed; and 150 or more errors are identified. This result will serve a foundation for developing automatic or semi-automatic techniques for the detection of errors in programs