Dr Jacob Howe
Contact details
Personal links
About
Overview
My research interests span machine learning, mathematical logic, declarative programming, software reliability, artificial intelligence, constraint solving and computational geometry. My work has two strands, one in developing the theoretical foundations of these areas, the other in applying them, particularly in static program analysis using abstract interpretation. Formally reasoning about code using abstract interpretation makes it an important tool for the software engineer interested in verification and security.
Qualifications
- PhD Computer Science, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom, 1998
- MSc Philososphy & History of Science, University of London (LSE), United Kingdom, 1995
- BSc (Hons) Mathematics, University of Warwick, United Kingdom, 1994
Employment
- Senior Lecturer, City, University of London, United Kingdom, August 2007 - present
- Lecturer, City, University of London, United Kingdom, October 2001 - July 2007
Teaching
Educational Leadership
Course Director for BSc (Hons) Computer Science and MSci (Hons) Computer Science
Course Director for BSc Computer Science
Research
Research Interests
My research interests are centred on static program analysis, the development of the techniques used and building tools to apply this. In particular I am interested in applying geometrical and logical techniques to program analysis. I also have interests in logic programming, constraint solving and mathematical logic. Recent projects I have been involved in include the EPSRC project VIP: Verification with Integer Polyhedra.
Publications
Publications by category
Chapter
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. Polyhedral Analysis using Parametric Objectives. Nineteenth Static Analysis Symposium (pp. 41-57). Springer.
Conference papers and proceedings (24)
- Albedah, E., Gashi, I. and Howe, J.M. (2026). Longitudinal Vulnerability Lifecycle Analysis. European Dependable Computing Conference 7-10 April, Canterbury, UK.
- Wickramasinghe, S.Y., Howe, J.M. and Daviaud, L. Extracting Deterministic Finite Automata from RNNs via Hyperplane Partitioning and Learning. .doi:10.1007/978-3-032-15638-9_8
- Iqbal, F. and Howe, J.M. Rule Extraction from Fake News Classifiers. .doi:10.1007/978-3-032-15638-9_21
- Wickramasinghe, S.Y., Howe, J.M. and Daviaud, L. (2025). Extracting Weighted Finite Automata from RNNs via iterative partitioning and spectral learning. International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Formal Verification, Logic, Automata, and Synthesis 26 October, Bologna.
- Howe, J.M., Brain, M. and Gàmez-Montolio, A. (2025). Evaluating Binary Polynomials using Subpolynomials. SMT 2025: 23rd International Workshop on Satisfiability Modulo Theories 10-11 August, Glasgow, UK.
- Gàmez-Montolio, A., Florit, E., Brain, M. and Howe, J.M. (2024). Efficient Normalized Reduction and Generation of Equivalent Multivariate Binary Polynomials. Workshop on Binary Analysis Research 1 March, San Diego, USA.doi:10.14722/bar.2024.23014
- Howe, J.M. and Nyx Brain, M. (2023). Widening for Systems of Two Variables Per Inequality. 8th SC-Square Workshop 28 July-, Tromsø, Norway.
- Alhamdan, W.S.N. and Howe, J.M. Classification of Date Fruits in a Controlled Environment Using Convolutional Neural Networks. .doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69717-4_16
- Mereani, F.A. and Howe, J.M. Rule Extraction from Neural Networks and Other Classifiers Applied to XSS Detection. .doi:10.1007/978-3-030-70594-7_15
- Mota, E., Howe, J.M., Schramm, A. and d'Avila Garcez, A.S. (2019). Efficient Predicate Invention using Shared NeMuS. 14th International Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning 10-16 August, Macau, China.
- Mereani, F.A. and Howe, J.M. (2018). Preventing Cross-Site Scripting Attacks by Combining Classifiers. 10th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence 18-20 September.doi:10.5220/0006894901350143
- Howe, J.M., Mota, E.D. and Garcez, A. (2017). Inductive learning in Shared Neural Multi-Spaces. 17-18 July.
- Tenório, M.R., Mota, E.D.S., Howe, J.M. and Garcez, A.S.D.A. (2017). Learning about Actions and Events in Shared NeMuS. Twelfth International Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy 2017) 17-18 July, London, UK.
- Schramm, A.C.M., Mota, E.D.S., Howe, J.M. and Garcez, A.S.D. (2017). Category-based Inductive Learning in Shared NeMuS. 17-18 July.
- Robbins, E., Howe, J.M. and King, A. Theory propagation and rational-trees. .doi:10.1145/2505879.2505901
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2010). A pearl on SAT solving in Prolog. 10th International Symposium on Functional and Logic Programming 19-21 April, Sendai, Japan.doi:10.1007/978-3-642-12251-4_13
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. Logahedra: A new weakly relational domain. .doi:10.1007/978-3-642-04761-9_23
- Charles, P.J., Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2009). Integer polyhedra for program analysis. 5th International Conference, AAIM 2009 15-17 June, San Francisco, USA.
- Simon, A., King, A. and Howe, J.M. Two variables per linear inequality as an abstract domain. .doi:10.1007/3-540-45013-0_7
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Codognet, P. (2001). Positive Boolean Functions as Multiheaded Clauses. International Conference on Logic Programming 26 November-1 December, Cyprus.
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (1999). Specialising Finite Domain Programs with Polyhedra. Logic Programming Synthesis and Transformation 1999 22-24 September, Venezia.
- Howe, J.M., King, A., Moreira, A.M.D. and Demeyer, S. Specialising Finite Domain Programs Using Polyhedra. .
- Howe, J.M. (1997). Two Loop Detection Mechanisms: a Comparison. International Conference on Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods (TABLEAUX'97) 13-16 May, Pont-a-Mousson.
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Smolka, G. Implementing Groundness Analysis with Definite Boolean Functions. 9th European Symposium on Programming Languages and Systems.
Journal articles (20)
- Brain, M. and Howe, J.M. (2026). Canonical Forms and Widening for Two Variables Per Inequality Systems. Mathematics in Computer Science, 20(1). doi:10.1007/s11786-025-00612-6
- ROBBINS, E.D., KING, A. and HOWE, J.M. (2021). Backjumping is Exception Handling. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 21(2), pp. 125-144. doi:10.1017/s1471068420000435
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Simon, A. (2019). Incremental closure for systems of two variables per inequality. Theoretical Computer Science, 768, pp. 1-42. doi:10.1016/j.tcs.2018.12.001
- Mereani, F. and Howe, J. (2019). Exact and Approximate Rule Extraction from Neural Networks with Boolean Features. Proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence pp. 424-433. doi:10.5220/0008362904240433
- Mereani, F.A. and Howe, J.M. (2018). Detecting Cross-Site Scripting Attacks Using Machine Learning. pp. 200-210. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-74690-6_20
- Howe, J.M., Robbins, E. and King, A. (2017). Theory learning with symmetry breaking. Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming pp. 85-96. doi:10.1145/3131851.3131861
- Robbins, E., Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2015). Theory propagation and reification. Science of Computer Programming, 111(1), pp. 3-22. doi:10.1016/j.scico.2014.05.013
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2012). A pearl on SAT and SMT solving in Prolog. Theoretical Computer Science
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2011). A Pearl on SAT Solving in Prolog (extended abstract). Logic Programming Newsletter, (3)
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Lawrence-Jones, C. (2010). Quadtrees as an abstract domain. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 267(1), pp. 89-100. doi:10.1016/j.entcs.2010.09.008
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Lu, L.J. (2004). Analysing logic programs by reasoning backwards. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT IN COMPUTATIONAL LOGIC, 3049, pp. 152-188
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2003). Three optimisations for sharing. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING, 3, pp. 243-257. doi:10.1017/S1471068402001497
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2003). Efficient groundness analysis in Prolog. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING, 3, pp. 95-124. doi:10.1017/S1471068402001485
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2003). Efficient Groundness Analysis in Prolog. TPLP, 3, pp. 95-124
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2003). Three Optimisations for Sharing. TPLP, 3, pp. 243-257
- Genaim, S., Codish, M. and Howe, J.M. (2001). Worst-case groundness analysis using definite Boolean functions. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 1(5), pp. 611-615. doi:10.1017/S1471068401001077
- Genaim, S., Howe, J.M. and Codish, M. (2001). Theory and Practice of Logic Programming. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 1(5), pp. 611-615
- Howe, J.M. (2001). Proof Search in Lax Logic. Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, 11(4), pp. 573-588
- Genaim, S., Howe, J.M. and Codish, M. (2001). Worst-case groundness analysis using definite boolean functions. TPLP, 1, pp. 611-615
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. (2000). Abstracting Numeric Constraints with Boolean Functions. Information Processing Letters, 75(1-2), pp. 17-23. doi:10.1016/S0020-0190(00)00081-8
Reports (3)
- Howe, J.M., King, A. and Lawrence-Jones, C. Quadtrees as an Abstract Domain..
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. Closure Algorithms for Domains with Two Variables Per Inequality..
- Howe, J.M. and King, A. Widening BDDS. University of Kent.
Thesis/dissertation
- Howe, J.M. Proof Search Issues in Some Non-Classical Logics. (PhD)
Professional activities
Editorial activity
- Forthcoming and Recent Events - LOPSTR 2013, (Madrid, Spain), Programme Committee member - WLPE'2013, (Istanbul, Turkey), Programme Committee member - PADL'2013: Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages, (Rome, Italy), Programme Committee Member - PPDP'2012, (Leuven, Belgium), Programme Committee member - WLPE'2012, (Budapest, Hungary), Programme Committee member.