Symbolic Debugger Research Articles

Experience with the MAC data flow system

An overview of the data flow system used by the MAC detector at SLAC is given, with emphasis on three features of its environment: First, the tapeless data logging and automated raw data file fetch and filter job submission. Second, the interactive aspects of the offline analysis program, including the availability of the symbolic debugging; and third, the availability of a large amount of disk space (> 2 GB) for data files, which allows minimum use of magnetic tape for physics analysis. Figures on reliability and number of tape mounts are compared to those of typical detectors using more traditional environments.

Engineering VAX Ada for a multi-language programming environment

DIGITAL's VAX ™ Ada r is a validated, production-quality implementation of the full Ada language that is well-integrated into the VMS ™ operating system environment on VAX systems. The programming support environment consists of an Ada compiler, an Ada program library manager, and a multi-language programming environment including a variety of tools which all work together. The Ada compiler has many features which allow full access to the underlying operating system and hardware and which permit the use of Ada in mixed language programs in the VAX/VMS Common Language Environment. The Ada program library manager provides Ada-specific features to reduce manual bookkeeping by programmers and to support programming projects. Some of the available multi-language tools include a source code tracking system, a language-sensitive editor, a symbolic debugger, a performance and test coverage analyzer, and a test system manager.

A compact programming environment for microprocessor-based controllers

To write a reliable program in an assembly language for microprocessor-based controller, we introduce data abstraction facility into an assembly language. For this purpose, we has designed and implemented ADT-RASM86 and its symbolic debugger. This paper presents the figure of the system and describes how the system is effective for writing a reliable program for microprocessors.

Dbxtool: A window‐based symbolic debugger for sun workstations

AbstractDbxtool is a window‐ and mouse‐based debugger for C, Pascal and FORTRAN programs running on Sun workstations. Its use of the mouse as the primary input mechanism eliminates the need to type variables, line numbers, breakpoints and most commands. Its multiple windows provide several qualitatively different perspectives on the debugging problem. Compared to the Unix 4.2 BSD dbx from which it is derived, it has been extended with the abilities to debug multiple‐process programs, already‐running processes, and the Sun Operating System kernel.

Generation of run-time environments

Attribute grammars have been used for many years for automated compiler construction. Attribute grammars support the description of semantic analysis, code generation and some code optimization in a formal declarative style. Other tools support the automation of lexical analysis and parsing. However, there is one large part of compiler construction that is missing from our toolkit: run-time environments. This paper introduces an extension of attribute grammars that supports the generation of run-time environments. The extension also supports the generation of interpreters, symbolic debugging tools, and other execution-time facilities.

An implementation of Anna

Anna is a language extension of Ada to include facilities for formally specifying the intended behavior of Ada programs. It augments Ada with precise machine-processable annotations so that well established formal methods of specification and documentation can be applied to Ada programs.This paper describes an implementation of a subset of Anna. The implementation is a transformer that accepts as input an Anna parse tree and produces as output an equivalent Ada parse tree that contains the necessary executable runtime checks for the Anna specifications. An approach called the Checking Function Approach is used. This involves the generation of a function for each annotation and generating calls to these functions at appropriate places. The transformer has to take care of various details like hiding, overloading, nesting, etc.It is hoped that the transformer will eventually cover most of Ann and have various features like a good user interface, interaction with a symbolic debugger, and optimization of runtime checks for permanent inclusion.

An event-driven debugger for Ada

In this paper, we present the main concepts used in our symbolic debugger for Ada. Described also is a companion tool, the Ada Program VIEWer, which gives users full access to program source while debugging. This debugger is one of the components of the Alsys Tool set which aims at providing high-level Ada-oriented tools, incorporting state-of-the-art techniques for software design, documentation, and development.

A note on Hennessy's “symbolic debugging of optimized code”

A note on Hennessy's “symbolic debugging of optimized code”

The delta rule development system for speech synthesis from text

Progress in speech synthesis has been hampered by the lack of rule-writing tools of sufficient flexibility and power. This paper presents a new system, Delta, that gives linguists and programmers a versatile rule language and friendly debugging environment. Delta's central data structure is well-suited for representing a broad class of multi-level utterance structures. The Delta language has flexible pattern-matching expressions, control structures, and utterance manipulation statements. Its dictionary facilities provide elegant exception handling. The interactive symbolic debugger speeds rule development and tuning. Delta can not only accommodate existing synthesis models, but can also be used to develop new ones.

Generalized path expressions: A high-level debugging mechanism

This paper introduces a modified version of path expressions called Path Rules which can be used as a debugging mechanism to monitor the dynamic behavior of a computation. Path rules have been implemented in a remote symbolic debugger running on the Three Rivers Computer Corporation PERQ computer under the Accent operating system.

DELTA

DELTA is the Universal Debugger for CP-6. CP-6, a general purpose communications-oriented operating system, is made up of two environments: host and communications. These two environments each have their own operating system and run on different CPUs. DELTA allows the user to symbolically debug programs written in any language or combination of languages in either environment. DELTA also allows symbolic debugging of the host operating system, the communications operating system, and the language and utility processors for each environment. In addition, DELTA allows symbolic patching of both operating systems and the language and utility processors providing a timely field support for CP-6.

DELTA

DELTA is the Universal Debugger for CP-6. CP-6, a general purpose communications-oriented operating system, is made up of two environments: host and communications. These two environments each have their own operating system and run on different CPUs. DELTA allows the user to symbolically debug programs written in any language or combination of languages in either environment. DELTA also allows symbolic debugging of the host operating system, the communications operating system, and the language and utility processors for each environment. In addition, DELTA allows symbolic patching of both operating systems and the language and utility processors providing a timely field support for CP-6.

Implementation issues for a source level symbolic debugger

This paper deals with issuces that have emerged as a result of a successful implementation of a source level symbolic debugger for HP-1000 computer systems. By analyzing a user's thought processes during a debugging session we created a powerful and easy to use tool for program analysis.

Generalized path expressions

This paper introduces a modified version of path expressions called Path Rules which can be used as a debugging mechanism to monitor the dynamic behaviour of a computation. Path rules have been implemented in a remote symbolic debugger running on the Three Rivers Computer Corporation PERQ computer under the Accent operating system.

Implementation issues for a source level symbolic debugger

This paper deals with issuces that have emerged as a result of a successful implementation of a source level symbolic debugger for HP-1000 computer systems. By analyzing a user's thought processes during a debugging session we created a powerful and easy to use tool for program analysis.

Generalized path expressions

This paper introduces a modified version of path expressions called Path Rules which can be used as a debugging mechanism to monitor the dynamic behaviour of a computation. Path rules have been implemented in a remote symbolic debugger running on the Three Rivers Computer Corporation PERQ computer under the Accent operating system.

Symbolic Debugging of Optimized Code

The long standing conflict between the optimization of code and the ability to symbolically debug the code is examined. The effects of local and global optimizations on the variables of a program are categorized and models for representing the effect of optimizations are given. These models are used by algorithms which determine the subset of variables whose values do not correspond to those in the original program. Algorithms for restoring these variables to their correct values are also developed. Empirical results from the application of these algorithms to local optimization are presented.

Some requirements for architectural support of software debugging

Architectural support of high-level, symbolic debugging is described at three levels of abstraction: the user's view of desired debugging functionality, the debugger implementor's view of architectural requirements that support the functionality, and the computer architect's view of architectural features or attributes that implement the requirements. References are made where possible to computing systems that meet the requirements. The paper is written from the viewpoint of debugger implementors, and is addressed primarily to computer architects.

Some requirements for architectural support of software debugging

Architectural support of high-level, symbolic debugging is described at three levels of abstraction: the user's view of desired debugging functionality, the debugger implementor's view of architectural requirements that support the functionality, and the computer architect's view of architectural features or attributes that implement the requirements. References are made where possible to computing systems that meet the requirements. The paper is written from the viewpoint of debugger implementors, and is addressed primarily to computer architects.

Dispel: A run-time debugging language

Dispel is a language designed to aid communication between an interactive user and a run-time, symbolic debugging system. Important attributes of Dispel are that it provides a small set of primitive debugging actions, most traditional debugging aids (such as variable traces and postmortem dumps) are written in terms of these primitives as debugging routines, and Dispel serves both as an interactive debugging command language and as a special-purpose programming language. The syntax and semantics of Dispel are explained and examples of Dispel commands and routines are presented.