Towards Efficient Object-Centric Debugging with Declarative Breakpoints

Debuggers are central tools in IDEs for inspecting and repairing software systems. However, they are often generic tools that operate on a low level of abstraction. Developers need to use simple breakpoint capabilities and interpret the raw data presented by the debugger. They are confronted with a large abstraction gap between application domain and debugger presentations. We propose an approach for debugging object-oriented programs, using expressive and flexible breakpoints that operate on sets of objects instead of a particular line of source code. This allows developers to adapt the debugger to their domain and work on a higher level of abstraction, which enables them to be more productive. We give an overview of the approach and demonstrate the idea with a simple use case, and we discuss how our approach differs from existing work.