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Formal methods & verification

Debugger

We currently have a minimal debugger integrated into the view of our application. We are seeking a student to explore and expand the capabilities of this debugger. The goal of this thesis project is to investigate and implement advanced debugging features, such as enhanced visualization, tracing and the ability to step backward and forward through code execution.

Example

Consider the following simple model fragment:

state = :login
if username == "admin"
  state = :dashboard
else
  state = :error
end

With the current debugger, a user can only see the current state while executing a run. An improved debugger could provide a timeline view of state changes, tracing of variable values across steps and the ability to step backward to inspect how an error occurred, or step forward to predict outcomes under different conditions.

Possible research questions

  1. 1

    Debugging features

    What kind of data (execution traces, state history, variable snapshots) is needed to implement advanced debugging features?

  2. 2

    Debugging MBT

    How can a debugger be effectively integrated in the context of Model-Based Testing, where behavior is often non-deterministic or concurrent?

  3. 3

    Visualization

    What are the best ways to visualize execution paths so that developers can quickly understand where things went wrong?

Interested in this topic? Get in touch!

students@axini.com