VeDebug: Regression Debugging Tool for Java

Abstract

Developers spend substantial time debugging their programs, yet debugging is still one of the most tedious activities. Interactive debuggers have been around for as long as computing, but the way they are used-set a breakpoint, reason about the state, step into/over-has not substantially changed. The last big discoveries, which happened decades ago, include visual debugging (e.g., DDD) and time-travel debugging. Although existing interactive debugging tools provide useful and powerful features, they are limited to a single program execution, e.g., a developer can only see data values and navigate the control flow of a single program execution at a time. We present VeDebug, the first video-based time-travel regression debugging tool to advance users' debugging experience. VeDebug introduces two unique features: (1) regression debugging, i.e., setting a "divergence breakpoint" (which "breaks" the execution whenever the control flow of the current execution diverges from the flow of a previously captured execution), and (2) video debugging, which provides features similar to those of a video player (e.g., speed up/slow down the replay). The demo video for VeDebug can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOiGrE sc10.