Debugging Program Loops Using Approximate Modeling

Developing model-based automatic debugging strategies has been an active research area for several years. We analyze shortcomings of previous modeling approaches when dealing with objectoriented languages and present a revised modeling approach. We employ Abstract Interpretation, a technique borrowed from program analysis, to improve the debugging of programs including loops, recursive procedures, and heap data structures. Together with heuristic model refinement, our approach delivers superior results than the previous models. The principle of our approach is demonstrated on a set of examples.