Debugger for a Declarative Event-Driven Programming Model

• US 20090222795A1
• Filed: 02/29/2008
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miles, Curtis R., Jamison, Wilfred C., Frank, Joachim H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,365,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3624 by performing operations on the source code, e.g. via a compiler
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/44 Encoding

Abstract

A compiler generates code providing an execution sequence, from a declarative event-driven model, for execution by a computer. To assist in debugging the declarative event-driven model, the compiler also generates cross-references that relate steps in the generated code to elements of the declarative source code. The cross-references may be used as input to a debugger, along with the declarative source and the generated code, to assist a user who is stepping through the generated code (for example) in understanding which portion of the declarative source gave rise to the current step in the generated execution sequence.

Claims

1. A method of debugging a declarative event-driven model specification, comprising:

stepping through, in a debugger, an executing compiled program generated from the declarative event-driven model specification and comprising a sequence of execution steps for execution on a computer;

accessing, by the debugger during the stepping through, cross-references that relate the executable steps of the executing compiled program to corresponding elements of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the compiled program is generated; and

using the accessed cross-references, by the debugger, to identify a particular one of the elements from the declarative event-driven model specification that corresponds to each selected one of the execution steps executed during the stepping through.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting the particular one on a user interface.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the declarative event-driven model specification defines an observer object and specifies how to update a state of the observer object based on occurrence of events reporting state changes.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the declarative event-driven model specification defines a monitoring context for a monitored entity and specifies how to update a state of the monitoring context based on occurrence of events reporting state changes of the monitored entity.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising creating at least one instance of the monitoring context to provide an execution context for executing the compiled program.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a test event and processing the received test event according to at least one of the execution steps that corresponds to receiving the test event.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the test event is sent to an address of the debugger.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the test event is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the debugger.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stepping through further comprises communicating, by the debugger, with a run-time environment that is executing the compiled program, and wherein the communicating identifies the each selected one of the execution steps as a currently-executing one of the execution steps from the compiled program during the stepping through.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting, on a user interface, visual representations of the particular one of the elements and each corresponding selected one of the execution steps executed during the stepping through.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting, on a user interface, visual representations of the particular one of the elements and each corresponding selected one of the execution steps that will be executed for that particular one of the elements during the stepping through.

12. A system for debugging a declarative event-driven model specification, comprising:

a computer comprising a processor; and

instructions executable using the processor to perform functions of;

stepping through, in a debugger, an executing compiled program generated from the declarative event-driven model specification and comprising a sequence of execution steps for execution on a computer;

accessing, by the debugger during the stepping through, cross-references that relate the executable steps of the executing compiled program to corresponding elements of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the compiled program is generated; and

using the accessed cross-references, by the debugger, to identify a particular one of the elements from the declarative event-driven model specification that corresponds to each selected one of the execution steps executed during the stepping through.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting the particular one on a user interface.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a test event and processing the received test event according to at least one of the execution steps that was generated to represent logic of a subscription to this test event in the declarative event-driven model.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the test event is sent to an address of the debugger or is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the debugger.

16. A computer program product for debugging a declarative event-driven model specification, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-usable medium and comprising computer-usable program code for:

stepping through, in a debugger, an executing compiled program generated from the declarative event-driven model specification and comprising a sequence of linear execution steps for execution on a computer to carry out event processing specified in the declarative event-driven model specification;

accessing, by the debugger during the stepping through, cross-references that relate the executable steps of the executing compiled program to corresponding elements of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the compiled program is generated; and

using the accessed cross-references, by the debugger, to identify a particular one of the elements from the declarative event-driven model specification that corresponds to each selected one of the execution steps executed during the stepping through.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the stepping through further comprises communicating, by the debugger, with a run-time environment that is executing the compiled program, and wherein the communicating identifies each selected one of the execution steps as a currently-executing one of the execution steps from the compiled program during the stepping through.

18. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting, on a user interface, visual representations of the particular one of the elements and each corresponding selected one of the execution steps executed during the stepping through.

19. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the identification comprises visually highlighting, on a user interface, visual representations of the particular one of the elements and each corresponding selected one of the execution steps that will be executed for that particular one of the elements during the stepping through.

20. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein:

the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a test event and processing the received test event according to at least one of the execution steps that corresponds to receiving the test event; and

the test event is sent to an address of the debugger or is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the debugger.