The AIDA experiment

Most of currently available debugging too1s for Ada do not allow to monitor enough in detail the powerful features of the language. For example, the help usually provided to the user for checking the program dependence from the particular characteristics of the language implementation, rarely goes beyond the detection of the most evident aspects. Similarly, no facilities are usually provided for detecting at run-time the occurrence of an erroneous execution, or for driving the program execution in all its aspects to generate the desired program effects. Possible directions for the improvement of debugging techniques to match the needs of Ada, and, more in general, of highly nondeterministic and concurrent languages, have been investigated as part of the activity of the EEC MAP project 755 "SFD-APSE", leading to the development of a prototype of an Advanced Interpreter/Debugger for Ada (AIDA). In this paper the experience gained with the project is briefly summarized, illustrating some of the useful features for a powerful and detailed monitoring of the execution of Ada programs.