Supporting Truly Object-Oriented Debugging of C++ Programs

Most debuggers do not support an object-oriented debugging model. A debugger should be able to provide the view that each object is an independent entity with its own breakpoint behavior. We also would like the debugger to plant a breakpoint on the "right'' member function when a polymorphic identifier is involved. The technology used in most C++ implementations does not support these features as well as the rich run-time environments commonly provided for symbolic languages. This paper introduces the need for such constructs, and presents algorithms that can be used to implement them in the framework of common symbolic debuggers.