Slicing-Based Trace Analysis of Rewriting Logic Specifications with i Julienne

Abstract

Abstract. We present i Julienne, a trace analyzer for conditional rewriting logic theories that can be used to compute abstract views of Maude executions that help users understand and debug programs. Given a Maude execution trace and a slicing criterion which consists of a set of target symbols occurring in a selected state of the trace, i Julienne is able to track back reverse dependences and causality along the trace in order to incrementally generate highly reduced program and trace slices that reconstruct all and only those pieces of information that are needed to deliver the symbols of interest. i Julienne is also endowed with a trace querying mechanism that increases flexibility and reduction power and allows program runs to be examined at the appropriate level of abstraction.

Combining Runtime Checking and Slicing to Improve Maude Error Diagnosis

“…Trace slicing [1,2,3,4,5] is a transformation technique for RWL theories that can drastically reduce the size and complexity of entangled, textually-large execution traces by focusing on selected computation aspects. This is done by uncovering data dependences among related parts of the trace w.r.t.…”

“…The implementation comprises: (i) a frontend consisting of a RESTful Web service written in Java, with an intuitive user interface based on AJAX technology written in HTML5, Canvas, and Javascript; and (ii) a back-end that implements the proposed trace analysis methodology in Maude. The implementation of the backend consists of about 350 Maude function definitions (approximately 2700 lines of source code) that partially reuse the slicing and exploration machinery developed in previous work [4,5,8], extending it with the constraint-checking capabilities described in this paper.…”

A Rewriting-based, Parameterized Exploration Scheme for the Dynamic Analysis of Complex Software Systems

“…Part I presents the first slicingbased, backward trace analysis methodology for conditional RWL computations [ABFR12a,ABFR12b], together with an incremental version of the technique and a practical tool that implements the method [ABFS13b]. Our proposal for trace slicing is aimed at endowing the RWL framework with a new instrument that can be used to analyze Maude execution traces and improve Maude programs.…”

“…This information is presented in a table that includes the labels of the rules and equations applied, the terms that result from the application of each rule or equation and the computed trace slice (if applicable) as shown in Figure 5.4. Moreover, Anima offers the possibility to export the displayed trace into meta-level representation, so the user can easily transfer the selected trace to any other Maude trace analyzer tool like the online backward trace analysis tool i Julienne [ABFS13b], for example.…”

Parametric Exploration of Rewriting Logic Computations

“…In [4,5], an incremental, backward trace slicer was presented that generates a trace slice of an execution trace T by tracing back a set of symbols of interest along (an instrumented version of) T , while data that are not required to produce the target symbols are simply discarded. This can be very helpful in debugging since any information that is not strictly needed to deliver a critical part of the result is discarded, which helps answer the question of what program components might affect a 'selected computation".…”