Scopeo: an Object-Centric Debugging Approach for Exploring Object-Oriented Programs

• Published in: 2024 IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution and Reengineering (SANER)
• Main Authors: Bourcier, Valentin, Costiou, Steven
• Other Authors: Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Signal et Automatique de Lille - UMR 9189 (CRIStAL), Centrale Lille-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Reflective Evolution of Ever-running Software Systems (EVREF), Inria Lille - Nord Europe, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Université de Lille-Berger-Levrault-Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Signal et Automatique de Lille - UMR 9189 (CRIStAL), Centrale Lille-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centrale Lille-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria), PHARO, ANR-21-CE25-0004,OCRE,OCRE: Réduire le coût du debugging avec la première génération de debuggers orientés objet(2021)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Object-centric debugging; Query debugging; Back-in-Time debugging; [INFO.INFO-SE]Computer Science [cs]/Software Engineering [cs.SE]; Rovaniemi
• Online Access: https://inria.hal.science/hal-04627606; https://inria.hal.science/hal-04627606/document; https://inria.hal.science/hal-04627606/file/saner-pdf-xplore-compatible.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1109/SANER60148.2024.00040

International audience Debugging object-oriented programs requires understanding how objects interact with each other and how their state evolves during execution. It is an arduous activity, as there are no methods to support finding objects to debug and explore their interactions.In this paper we present Scopeo, a novel object-centric approach to explore objects and their interactions in object-oriented programs. We evaluate the performance of Scopeo and conclude its applicability to real debugging scenarios. We then open a discussion on the interest of this approach for future research into debugging and program comprehension.