Probe description language

Abstract

A high-level language can be used to abstract away programming language complexity from a user. The high-level language can be based upon and utilize some of the semantics of the programming language, but utilize keywords to call programming language functionality transparent to the user. This provides for a shorter learning curve for people who are somewhat familiar with the programming language, but might lack the knowledge or desire to personally code an entire application or method in the program language. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 349,457, filed Jan. 18, 2002, entitled "FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE JAVA BYTECODE," as well as Application No. 60 / 349,586, filed Jan. 18, 2002, entitled "PROBE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE," each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.COPYRIGHT NOTICE[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.CROSS-REFERENCED CASES[0003] The following applications are cross-referenced and incorporated herein by reference:[0004] U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ entitled "FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE JAVA BYTECODE INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM," by Rajendra Inamdar, filed concurre...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

0029] Tools in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can be used in scenarios such as debugging, application tracking, and performance monitoring. One benefit of such a tool is that the tool can include a simple user interface, as the instrumentation procedure can be controlled with a simple configuration file. Such a tool can also be lightweight, as only classes specified by the user are implemented. A tool can also be extensible, as a user can create new probes as they are needed. Probe specifications can be written at a high level, such that the person creating a probe does not have to deal with low-level byte code details. A tool can also allow the invoking of arbitrary Java runtime classes and methods in the probe body.

0030] A tool in accordance with the one embodiment of the present invention acts as a tool to inject "arbitrary" code into an application, such as into compiled Java classes, under user direction. By inserting instrumentation code after compilation, certain benefits can be obtained. One benefit arises in the fact that program source code can be kept free of debugging code clutter. Also, the locations at which debugging code is inserted into the application can be controlled by the user.

Problems solved by technology

It is not always practical to use a debugger, however, as stopping a program at a break point can change the behavior of a program, especially in multi-threaded programs.

If debugging code is inserted in several places throughout an application, the source code can become cluttered with debug logic.

Once compiled, such debugging code cannot be changed.

This can be undesirable while dealing with publicly-released software.

If a

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