Efficient mapping of software system traces to architectural views

ABSTRACT

Information about a software system's execution can help a developer with many tasks, including software testing, performance tuning, and program understanding. In almost all cases, this dynamic information is reported in terms of source-level constructs, such as procedures and methods. For some software engineering tasks, source-level information is not optimal because there is a wide gap between the information presented (i.e., procedures) and the concepts of interest to the software developer (i.e., subsystems). One way to close this gap is to allow developers to investigate the execution information in terms of a higher-level, typically architectural, view. In this paper, we present an encoding technique for dynamic trace information that makes it tractable and efficient to manipulate a trace from a variety of different architecture-level viewpoints. To motivate the need for the encoding technique, we describe two tools that use the technique: a visualization tool and a path query tool. We present the encoding technique to enable the development of additional tools that manipulate dynamic information at a higher-level than source.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  F. Theory of Computation
  F.3 LOGICS AND MEANINGS OF PROGRAMS
      F.3.2 Semantics of Programming Languages
          Subjects: Program analysis

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Data abstraction
      D.2.5 Testing and Debugging
          Subjects: Tracing; Diagnostics
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement
          Subjects: Restructuring, reverse engineering, and reengineering

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Theory

Keywords:
dynamic information, encoding, execution information, paths, performance analysis, program understanding, software integration testing, traces