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Microprocessor debugging techniques and their application in debugger design
Author(s) -
Gondzio Marek
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380170305
Subject(s) - debugger , debugging , computer science , microprocessor , programming language , algorithmic program debugging , background debug mode interface , embedded system , semantics (computer science) , operating system
Every microprocessor‐based system needs powerful debugging tools. Debugging power strongly depends on a mechanism of control exchange between the debugger and an application program. Several implementation methods of such a mechanism are briefly described and compared in this paper. It is shown that conditional breakpoints facilitate a semantics‐oriented approach to program debugging. Some debugging techniques derived from elementary control‐exchange mechanisms are proposed. Most of the techniques discussed are implemented in the MD‐86 debugger designed for the Intel 8086 microprocessor. The debugger itself is also briefly described.