Debugging Revisited: Toward Understanding the Debugging Needs of Contemporary Software Developers

Layman, Lucas; Diep, Madeline; Nagappan, Meiyappan; Singer, Janice; DeLine, Robert; Venolia, Gina

doi:10.1109/esem.2013.43

“…Debugging and troubleshooting have been important subjects in computing infrastructures, parallel and distributed systems, embedded systems, and desktop applications [367], [368], [369], [370], [371], [372], [373]. The two predominant strategies applied to debug and troubleshoot are runtime debugging (e.g., gdb-like tools) and post-mortem analysis (e.g., tracing, replay and visualization).…”

Section: Debugging and Troubleshootingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two predominant strategies applied to debug and troubleshoot are runtime debugging (e.g., gdb-like tools) and post-mortem analysis (e.g., tracing, replay and visualization). Despite the constant evolution and the emergence of new techniques to improve debugging and troubleshooting, there are still several open avenues and research questions [368].…”

Section: Debugging and Troubleshootingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Software-Defined Networking: A Comprehensive Survey

Kreutz

¹

,

Ramos

²

,

Verı́ssimo

³

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-The Internet has led to the creation of a digital society, where (almost) everything is connected and is accessible from anywhere. However, despite their widespread adoption, traditional IP networks are complex and very hard to manage. It is both difficult to configure the network according to predefined policies, and to reconfigure it to respond to faults, load and changes. To make matters even more difficult, current networks are also vertically integrated: the control and data planes are bundled together. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging paradigm that promises to change this state of affairs, by breaking vertical integration, separating the network's control logic from the underlying routers and switches, promoting (logical) centralization of network control, and introducing the ability to program the network. The separation of concerns introduced between the definition of network policies, their implementation in switching hardware, and the forwarding of traffic, is key to the desired flexibility: by breaking the network control problem into tractable pieces, SDN makes it easier to create and introduce new abstractions in networking, simplifying network management and facilitating network evolution.In this paper we present a comprehensive survey on SDN. We start by introducing the motivation for SDN, explain its main concepts and how it differs from traditional networking, its roots, and the standardization activities regarding this novel paradigm. Next, we present the key building blocks of an SDN infrastructure using a bottom-up, layered approach. We provide an in-depth analysis of the hardware infrastructure, southbound and northbound APIs, network virtualization layers, network operating systems (SDN controllers), network programming languages, and network applications. We also look at cross-layer problems such as debugging and troubleshooting. In an effort to anticipate the future evolution of this new paradigm, we discuss the main ongoing research efforts and challenges of SDN. In particular, we address the design of switches and control platforms -with a focus on aspects such as resiliency, scalability, performance, security and dependability -as well as new opportunities for carrier transport networks and cloud providers. Last but not least, we analyze the position of SDN as a key enabler of a software-defined environment.

show abstract

“…Gilmore [14] argues that the main aim of program comprehension during debugging is to understand which changes will fix the defect. Based on interviews with developers, Layman et al [31] conclude that the debugging process is a process of iterative hypothesis refinement (cf. [43]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, reproducing the defect and inspecting the system state are essential for fault diagnosis and for identifying the root cause and a potential fix. It is common in debugging to try to replicate the failure [30,31]. In this process, the expected output of a program needs to be compared with its actual output, for which knowledge of the program's execution and design is required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[11]). As debugging is difficult, tools are important because they provide insight into the behaviour of a system, enabling a developer to form a mental model of a program [31,43] and facilitating navigation of a program's source code at runtime [30]. A source-level debugger is a tool that is typically used for controlling execution, setting breakpoints, and manipulating a runtime state.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Designing a source-level debugger for cognitive agent programs

Koeman

¹

,

Hindriks

²

,

Jonker

³

2016

Auton Agent Multi-Agent Syst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When an agent program exhibits unexpected behaviour, a developer needs to locate the fault by debugging the agent's source code. The process of fault localisation requires an understanding of how code relates to the observed agent behaviour. The main aim of this paper is to design a source-level debugger that supports single-step execution of a cognitive agent program. Cognitive agents execute a decision cycle in which they process events and derive a choice of action from their beliefs and goals. Current state-of-the-art debuggers for agent programs provide insight in how agent behaviour originates from this cycle but less so in how it relates to the program code. As relating source code to generated behaviour is an important part of the debugging task, arguably, a developer also needs to be able to suspend an agent program on code locations. We propose a design approach for single-step execution of agent programs that supports both code-based as well as cycle-based suspension of an agent program. This approach results in a concrete stepping diagram ready for implementation and is illustrated by a diagram for both the Goal and Jason agent programming languages, and a corresponding full implementation of a source-level debugger for Goal in the Eclipse development environment. The evaluation that was performed based on this implementation shows that agent programmers prefer a source-level debugger over a purely cycle-based debugger.

show abstract

Designing a Source-Level Debugger for Cognitive Agent Programs

Koeman

¹

,

Hindriks

²

2015

PRIMA 2015: Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When an agent program exhibits unexpected behaviour, a developer needs to locate the fault by debugging the agent's source code. The process of fault localisation requires an understanding of how code relates to the observed agent behaviour. The main aim of this paper is to design a source-level debugger that supports single-step execution of a cognitive agent program. Cognitive agents execute a decision cycle in which they process events and derive a choice of action from their beliefs and goals. Current state-of-the-art debuggers for agent programs provide insight in how agent behaviour originates from this cycle but less so in how it relates to the program code. As relating source code to generated behaviour is an important part of the debugging task, arguably, a developer also needs to be able to suspend an agent program on code locations. We propose a design approach for single-step execution of agent programs that supports both code-based as well as cycle-based suspension of an agent program. This approach results in a concrete stepping diagram ready for implementation and is illustrated by a diagram for both the Goal and Jason agent programming languages, and a corresponding full implementation of a source-level debugger for Goal in the Eclipse development environment. The evaluation that was performed based on this implementation shows that agent programmers prefer a source-level debugger over a purely cycle-based debugger.

show abstract

Debugging Revisited: Toward Understanding the Debugging Needs of Contemporary Software Developers

Cited by 35 publications

References 17 publications

Software-Defined Networking: A Comprehensive Survey

Software-Defined Networking: A Comprehensive Survey

Designing a source-level debugger for cognitive agent programs

Designing a Source-Level Debugger for Cognitive Agent Programs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About