The problem
NullPointerExceptions are among the most common Java crashes, and there is no single “right” fix — sometimes you skip a statement, sometimes you inject a default, sometimes you return early.
The approach
NPEFix defines a space of runtime recovery strategies for null dereferences and systematically explores which ones let execution continue with correct behaviour.
In practice
It showed that many null-dereference failures can be survived at runtime by choosing among a small, well-defined set of strategies. Published at SANER 2017.
Highlights
- A space of runtime recovery strategies for null dereferences
- Systematic exploration of what keeps execution correct
- Published at SANER 2017