alias analysis vs. pointer analysis vs. points-to analysis

Question

Currently I am reading a lot about static code analysis. There are several terms that confuses me because I can't really tell what the difference is.

• alias analysis
• pointer analysis
• points-to analysis

What is the difference (if any) between them?

Answer 1

Pointer analysis or points-to analysis is a static program analysis that determines information on the values of pointer variables or expressions.

Although the literature is not entirely consistent on terminology, pointer analysis is a near-synonym of alias analysis. Whereas, however, pointer/points-to analysis typically tries to model heap objects and asks “what objects can a variable point to?”, alias analysis algorithms focus on the question of “can a pair of variables/expressions point to the same object (aliases) ?”