Method and system for debugging a program

• US 6,915,509 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2000
• Issued: 07/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chkodrov, Gueorgui B., Kaur, Narinder
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nahar, Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US09/606,973
• Time in Patent Office: 1,833 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-135, 709/203, 709/310
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/362 Software debugging

Abstract

In a method and system for debugging a program, a debugging module is loaded into a normal thread of execution of the program. A user may then send commands to the debugger module from a command console module operating in a safe separate process. The debugger module receives the commands and converts them into function calls to objects that are accessible by the program. This allows the user to interact manually with the objects and achieve substantially the same responses from the objects as the program itself would have obtained during its normal execution. Thus the user can effectively debug the program without having to know the internal structure of any of its constituent objects.

Claims

1. On a computer having a memory, a method for debugging a program running on a distributed environment, the method comprising:

halting a thread of execution of the program being debugged, wherein the thread is associated with context data describing context of the thread;

creating a call-frame that will behave as if called from the program at the location at which the thread was halted;

loading a debugger into the halted thread of execution of the program; and

running the debugger in the thread of execution to debug the program, the debugger calling objects from the context of the thread of the program.