Emulation-based expression evaluation for diagnostic tools

摘要

Systems, methods and computer program products are described that enable a diagnostic tool, such as a debugger, to evaluate an expression based on the state of a target program process where the expression to be evaluated includes a call to a first function that exists in the target program process but where evaluation of such first function requires evaluation of a second function that does not exist in the target program process. For an expression such as this, the diagnostic tool emulates execution of the first function within a process other than the target program process, such as within the diagnostic tool process. In other embodiments, the emulation capability of the diagnostic tool is leveraged to enable a user thereof to simulate a modification of the target program process without making actual changes to the target program process.

主权项

1. A method performed by a diagnostic tool process executing on a computer, the method comprising:
receiving an expression to be evaluated based on a state of a target program process, the expression including a call to a first function that is included in the target program process, evaluation of the first function being dependent upon evaluation of a second function that is not included in the target program process; and evaluating the expression by at least emulating the execution of the first function and the second function within a process other than the target program process.