Publications

J. M. Wozniak, T. G. Armstrong, M. Wilde, D. S. Katz, E. Lusk, I. T. Foster, "A Model for Tracing and Debugging Large-Scale Task-Parallel Programs with MPE," Preprint ANL/MCS-P4002-1212, December 2012. [pdf]

Application frameworks and domain-specific languages (DSLs) (both here called high-level tools) aid developers when developing programs for next-generation, highly concurrent systems. An increase in the use of high-level tools, however,creates a problem: the prevention and detection of defects in the high-level program. Traditional debuggers, designed for operating on highly popular, line-oriented languages (C, C++, Java), will operate at too low a level to detect defects with the use of the high-level tool. With regard to scale, while lineoriented tools are expected to remain viable on foreseeable systems, the ability of the human user to effectively use these tools at larger scale is questionable.