Debugger for a declarative event-driven programming model

• US 8,365,149 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Frank, Joachim H., Jamison, Wilfred C., Miles, Curtis R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wei, Zheng
• Application Number:
  US12/040,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222795A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,796 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/125
• 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, execution of a 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 created during the generating of the compiled program to relate each of the execution steps of the compiled program to a corresponding element of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the execution step was generated; and

iteratively performing, for each of the execution steps executed during the stepping through;

communicating, by the debugger with a run-time environment that is executing the compiled program, to obtain an identification of the executed execution step;

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 the identified execution step; and

visually highlighting, on a user interface, a visual representation of the identified particular one of the elements and a visual representation of the identified execution step.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising creating at least one instance of the monitoring context to provide an execution context for executing the compiled program.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a selection of a test event and communicating with the run-time environment to notify the run-time environment to process the selected test event according to at least one of the execution steps that corresponds to the selected test event.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the notification to process the selected test event is sent to an address of the run-time environment.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the notification to process the selected test event is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the run-time environment.

8. 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, execution of a 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 created during the generating of the compiled program to relate each of the execution steps of the compiled program to a corresponding element of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the execution step was generated; and

iteratively performing, for each of the execution steps executing during the stepping through;

communicating, by the debugger with a run-time environment that is executing the compiled program, to obtain an identification of the executed execution step;

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 the identified execution step; and

visually highlighting, on a user interface, a visual representation of the identified particular one of the elements and a visual representation of the identified execution step.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a selection of a test event and communicating with the run-time environment to notify the run-time environment to process the selected test event according to at least one of the execution steps that was generated to represent logic of a subscription to the selected test event in the declarative event-driven model.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the notification to process the selected test event is sent to an address of the run-time environment or is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the run-time environment.

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

stepping through, in a debugger, execution of a 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 created during the generating of the compiled program to relate each of the execution steps of the compiled program to a corresponding element of the declarative event-driven model specification from which the execution step was generated; and

iteratively performing, for each of the execution steps executing during the stepping through;

communicating, by the debugger with a run-time environment that is executing the compiled program, to obtain an identification of the executed execution step;

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 the identified execution step; and

visually highlighting, on a user interface, a visual representation of the identified particular one of the elements and a visual representation of the identified execution step.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein:

the stepping through further comprises receiving, by the debugger, a selection of a test event and communicating with the run-time environment to notify the run-time environment to process the selected test event according to at least one of the execution steps that corresponds to receiving the test event; and

the notification to process the selected test event is sent to an address of the run-time environment or is published to a publish-subscribe infrastructure and subscribed to by the run-time environment.