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Source-level debugging of scalar optimized code

Authors:

Ali-Reza Adl-Tabatabai,

Thomas GrossAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 31, Issue 5

Pages 33 - 43

https://doi.org/10.1145/249069.231388

Published: 01 May 1996 Publication History

Abstract

Although compiler optimizations play a crucial role in the performance of modern computer systems, debugger technology has lagged behind in its support of optimization. Yet debugging the unoptimized translation is often impossible or futile, so handling of code optimizations in the debugger is necessary. But compiler optimizations make it difficult to provide source-level debugger functionality: Global optimizations can cause the runtime value of a variable to be inconsistent with the source-level value expected at a breakpoint; such variables are called endangered variables. A debugger must detect and warn the user of endangered variables otherwise the user may draw incorrect conclusions about the program. This paper presents a new algorithm for detecting variables that are endangered due to global scalar optimization. Our approach provides more precise classifications of variables and is still simpler than past approaches. We have implemented and evaluated our techniques in the context of the cmcc optimizing C compiler. We describe the compiler extensions necessary to perform the required bookkeeping of compiler optimization. We present measurements of the effect of optimizations on a debugger's ability to present the expected values of variables to the user.

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Cited By

Lim HDebray STitzer BXu HZhang I(2021)Automated bug localization in JIT compilersProceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN/SIGOPS International Conference on Virtual Execution Environments10.1145/3453933.3454021(153-164)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3453933.3454021
von Dincklage DDiwan A(2011)Integrating program analyses with programmer productivity toolsSoftware—Practice & Experience10.1002/spe.103541:7(817-840)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/spe.1035
Koushanfar FKirovski DHong IPotkonjak MPapaefthymiou M(2006)Symbolic debugging of embedded hardware and softwareIEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems10.1109/43.91375720:3(392-401)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/43.913757
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Index Terms

Source-level debugging of scalar optimized code
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
  2. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language types

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 31, Issue 5

May 1996

300 pages

ISSN:0362-1340

EISSN:1558-1160

DOI:10.1145/249069

Editor:
Richard L. Wexelblat

Issue’s Table of Contents

PLDI '96: Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 1996 conference on Programming language design and implementation
May 1996
300 pages
ISBN:0897917952
DOI:10.1145/231379
Chairman:
Charles N. Fischer
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison

Copyright © 1996 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 May 1996

Published in SIGPLAN Volume 31, Issue 5

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Cited By

Lim HDebray STitzer BXu HZhang I(2021)Automated bug localization in JIT compilersProceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN/SIGOPS International Conference on Virtual Execution Environments10.1145/3453933.3454021(153-164)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3453933.3454021
von Dincklage DDiwan A(2011)Integrating program analyses with programmer productivity toolsSoftware—Practice & Experience10.1002/spe.103541:7(817-840)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/spe.1035
Koushanfar FKirovski DHong IPotkonjak MPapaefthymiou M(2006)Symbolic debugging of embedded hardware and softwareIEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems10.1109/43.91375720:3(392-401)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/43.913757
Kumar NChilders BSoffa MJeffery CChoi JLencevicius R(2005)TdbProceedings of the sixth international symposium on Automated analysis-driven debugging10.1145/1085130.1085147(123-132)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1085130.1085147
Koushanfar FKirovski DPotkonjak MSentovich E(2000)Symbolic debugging scheme for optimized hardware and softwareProceedings of the 2000 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design10.5555/602902.602913(40-43)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2000
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/602902.602913
Koushanfar FKirovski DPotkonjak M(2000)Symbolic debugging scheme for optimized hardware and softwareIEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer Aided Design. ICCAD - 2000. IEEE/ACM Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.00CH37140)10.1109/ICCAD.2000.896448(40-43)Online publication date: 2000
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCAD.2000.896448
Inki Hong Kirovski DPotkonjak MPapaefthymiou M(2000)Symbolic debugging of globally optimized behavioral specificationsProceedings 2000. Design Automation Conference. (IEEE Cat. No.00CH37106)10.1109/ASPDAC.2000.835132(397-400)Online publication date: 2000
https://doi.org/10.1109/ASPDAC.2000.835132
Jaramillo CGupta RSoffa M(1999)Comparison Checking: An Approach to Avoid Debugging of Optimized CodeSoftware Engineering — ESEC/FSE ’9910.1007/3-540-48166-4_17(268-284)Online publication date: 27-Aug-1999
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48166-4_17
Dhamdhere DSankaranarayanan K(1998)Dynamic currency determination in optimized programsACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/295656.29565720:6(1111-1130)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1998
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/295656.295657
Tucker KHarrison DCohen N(1997)Debugging highly-optimized Ada with code motion (DHACM)Proceedings of the conference on TRI-Ada '9710.1145/269629.269650(197-203)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1997
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/269629.269650
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