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A debugger for a graphical workstation
Author(s) -
Bovey J. D.
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.4380170907
Subject(s) - debugger , computer science , workstation , interface (matter) , graphics , graphical user interface , human–computer interaction , operating system , programming language , debugging , user interface , state (computer science) , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method
This paper describes the ups source‐level debugger. Ups , which is designed to take advantage of the graphics and mouse available on a workstation, displays the debugged program's current state in the form of a hierarchically structured document in which items of interest can be expanded to show more detail. User interaction is via a system of menus and editable subfields, the intention being to create a debugger which has a lot of functionality but is easy to learn and easy to remember. The paper describes the ups user interface itself and discusses its implementaion, which may be of interest to anyone writing a program with an interface based on menus and editable fields. There is also a discussion of some of the problems that will be encountered by anyone trying to write a new debugger to run in an existing environment.