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Leading designs in debugging software

21 November 2007

The US Department of Defense in its latest supercomputer project will use debugging software developed by Monash University's Professor David Abramson.

Monash University start-up company Guardsoft is part of a US Department of Defense project to develop the world's most advanced supercomputer.

Guardsoft will supply the vital debugging software in the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project to develop a supercomputer by the end of the decade.

Guardsoft program developer, Professor David Abramson from the Faculty of Information Technology, said the debugging software uses a new technique called "relative" debugging.

"This allows programmers to trace errors introduced into software as it is modified or ported from one system to another. Unlike traditional debugging techniques, relative debugging compares the execution of a new program with a reference version that is known to work," Professor Abramson said.

Relative debugging differs from traditional debugging in two respects. The program variables are compared not with user expectations, but with variables in another reference program that is known to be correct; second, because the process can be automated.

"This is particularly valuable when the person performing the debugging is not the original developer," Professor Abramson said.

DARPA's new $250 million dollar project aims to ensure the United States has competitive supercomputers for military, intelligence-gathering and industrial purposes and has funded Cray to develop the new technology.

Chief technology officer for Cray, Steve Scott, said a benefit of the program was that it allows users to locate errors quickly when existing sequential programs are used in parallel or when they are changed during code development.

"The new technology by Professor Abramson has the potential to enhance programmer productivity substantially, and compliments the other tools we are developing," Mr Scott said.