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Semantics directed program execution monitoring†

Part of: JFP Research Articles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Amir Kishon  and
Paul Hudak
Amir Kishon
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA e-mail: {kishon,hudak}@cs.yale.edu
Paul Hudak
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA e-mail: {kishon,hudak}@cs.yale.edu
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Abstract

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Monitoring semantics is a formal model of program execution which captures ‘monitoring activity’ as found in profilers, tracers, debuggers, etc. Beyond its theoretical interest, this formalism provides a new methodology for implementing a large family of source-level monitoring activities for sequential deterministic programming languages. In this article we explore the use of monitoring semantics in the specification and implementation of a variety of monitors: profilers, tracers, collecting interpreters, and, most importantly, interactive source-level debuggers. Although we consider such monitors only for (both strict and non-strict) functional languages, the methodology extends easily to imperative languages, since it begins with a continuation semantics specification.

In addition, using standard partial evaluation techniques as an optimization strategy, we show that the methodology forms a practical basis for building real monitors. Our system can be optimized at two levels of specialization: specializing the interpreter with respect to a monitor specification automatically yields an instrumented interpreter; further specializing this instrumented interpreter with respect to a source program yields an instrumented program, i.e. one in which the extra code to perform monitoring has been automatically embedded into the program.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Functional Programming , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , October 1995 , pp. 501 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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