A general trace query mechanism based on Prolog

Ducassé, Mireille

doi:10.1007/3-540-55844-6_150

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…For instance, for larger applications it is useful to integrate user-defined pre-and postconditions for functions into the debugging process instead of the simple spy points. Such applications require a more flexible and programmable debugger [7]. Such debuggers are based on the idea to show the user only distinct events of the program execution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A debugging model for functional logic programs

Hanus

Josephs

1993

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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This paper presents a box-oriented debugging model for the functional logic language ALF. Due to the sophisticated operational semantics of ALF which is based on innermost basic narrowing with simplification, the debugger must reflect the application of the different computation rules during program execution. Hence our debugging model includes not only one box type as in Byrd's debugging model for logic programs but several different kinds of boxes corresponding to the various computation rules of the functional logic language (narrowing, simplification etc.). Moreover, additional box types are introduced in order to allow skips over (sometimes) uninteresting program parts like proofs of the condition in a conditional equation. Since ALF is a genuine amalgamation of functional and logic languages, our debugging model subsumes operational aspects of both kinds of languages. As a consequence, it can be also used for pure logic languages, pure functional languages with eager evaluation, or functional logic languages with a less sophisticated operational semantics like SLOG or eager BABEL.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore it is necessary to filter the standard output in order to concentrate on the relevant part of the computation process. One possible implementation of filtering is a programmable debugger where the user can configure the debugger to his requests [7]. This could also be implemented on the basis of our debugging model.…”

Section: Filteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

A debugging model for functional logic programs

Hanus

Josephs

1993

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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“…Algorithmic debugging, a semi-automatic procedure for debugging, proceeds by interactively Ducassè's focus appears to have been automatic debugging of logic programming languages [Duc93], and declarative debugging using logic programming languages [Duc92]. The two ideas are combined in her primary project, Opium, an extensible trace analyser for Prolog [Duc99].…”

Section: Software Engineering Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Goldsmith et al note that many of the optimisations available for SQL could also be successfully applied to their Program Trace Query Language (PTQL) [GOA05]. Ducassé has developed a Prolog-based query language for traces [Duc92]. The DTrace system provides a domain specific language for trace instrumentation and queries [CSL04].…”

Section: Implementation Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Denotational trace: a category-theoretic solution to the practical problems of software execution tracing

Brough¹

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Here, the use of category theory, long advocated as applicable for manipulating many abstractions found in computer programming, is extended to serve additionally as a meta-level design tool to address a practical, software engineering problem: the design and use of effective software execution tracing systems. Software execution tracing is a widely used technique arising out of basic debugging practices with diverse implementations found in many software engineering processes, but it lacks a useful, theoretical foundation, resulting in engineering problems at several levels: for the designers, implementers and users of tracing systems all of whom have no recourse to rigorously defined and clearly understood engineering abstractions, when it comes to either implementing or using tracing effectively. Category theory has been used widely and successfully in computer science for decades, and more recently for a variety of applications in software engineering, establishing it as a key mathematical basis for this engineering discipline.Practical execution tracing systems have not used the existing theoretical concept of trace already provided by computer science -the trace monoid -because monoidal traces, while nevertheless useful in the theoretical investigation of concurrent and non-deterministic systems, are the consequence of an operational view of semantics, and therefore lack the complex, compositional structure required to encode much of the source-oriented information needed in practical execution traces. As a consequence of the categorical duality between operational and denotational semantics, the novel, dual notion of 'denotational trace' is introduced, where a 'canonical' denotational trace contains the complete collection of source-oriented and compositional, denotational semantic information required for practical execution tracing activities. To highlight the practical, straightforward nature of both denotational tracing implementation and usage, a canonical, denotational tracer is implemented for a simple language, sufficient to provide some simple examples of nevertheless sophisticated uses for denotational traces, including a specification recovery from execution trace and analyses of space and time complexity using formal reasoning applied to traces (i.e., proof by induction, as implied by categorical reasoning based on the denotational basis, for which induction is the associated proof technique). The novel application of category theory as a meta-level design tool, to the long standing software engineering problem of designing and using effective software execution tracing systems, has resulted in an elegant and systematic solution to those problems, further demonstrating that category theory has much to offer software engineering as a practical toolset based on a solid theoretical grounding. Thus category theory has delivered another useful result in software engineering as further evidence of its general applicability to this field, thereby reinforcing its usefulness for modeling, desig...

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Tools for Search-Tree Visualisation: The APT Tool

Carro

Hermenegildo

2000

Analysis and Visualization Tools for Constraint Programming

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The control part of the execution of a constraint logic program can be conceptually shown as a search-tree, where nodes correspond to calis, and whose branches represent conjunctions and disjunctions. This tree represents the search space traversed by the program, and has also a direct relationship with the amount of work performed by the program. The nodes of the tree can be used to display information regarding the state and origin of instantiation of the variables involved in each cali. This depiction can also be used for the enumeration process. These are the features implemented in APT, a tool which runs constraint logic programs while depicting a (modified) search-tree, keeping at the same time information about the state of the variables at every moment in the execution. This information can be used to replay the execution at will, both forwards and backwards in time. These views can be abstracted when the size of the execution requires it. The search-tree view is used as a framework onto which constraint-level visualizations (such as those presented in the following chapter) can be attached.

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A general trace query mechanism based on Prolog

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

A debugging model for functional logic programs

A debugging model for functional logic programs

Denotational trace: a category-theoretic solution to the practical problems of software execution tracing

Tools for Search-Tree Visualisation: The APT Tool

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