Location

Abstract

In this presentation, I will:

1. overview the debugging support provided at the OS level on Linux, how limitations in the design impacts debugger architecture
2. share with the group my experience in implementing a C++ debugger on Linux
3. underline the power of adding a scripting language to a debugger, and shine the light on the Boost.Python library
4. Extending debugger support to other languages, namely Walter Bright’s D.

I found that debugger architecture lends itself well to the paradigms of C++. I may give some examples; however there is not enough time to outline the complete architecture at the C++ source level of detail.

And last but not least… DISCLAIMER: I am not interested in talking about the political aspects of Linux / OpenSource / GPL in this setting. I intend to keep the discussion rather technical.

Bio

The Zero debugger was created by Cristian Vlasceanu. He works on custom interpreters and language translators in his daytime job, and hacks Zero at night.

Cristian is a lifelong friend of Andrei Alexandrescu and has programmed in  C++ for over a decade. He suggested the name Loki for the C++ library described in the ground breaking book Modern C++ Design.

After spending a couple of years in Atlanta, Cristian has moved to Seattle and has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2000.

Cristian has written a couple of technical articles for the now defunct C/C++ Users Journal, blogs infrequently, and is a veteran of Amazon.com and RealNetworks.

Resources

Download the slides from the presentation.