Title :
Measuring various properties of execution traces to help build better trace analysis tools
Author :
Hamou-Lhadj, Abdelwahab ; Lethbridge, Timothy C.
Author_Institution :
Ottawa Univ., Ont., Canada
Abstract :
Understanding the behavior of a software system by studying its execution traces can be extremely difficult due to the sheer size and complexity of typical traces. In this paper, we propose that if various aspects that contribute to a trace´s complexity could be measured and if this information could be used by tools, then trace analysis could be facilitated. For this purpose, we present a set of simple and practical metrics that aim at measuring various properties of execution traces. We also show the results of applying these metrics to traces of three software systems and suggest how the results could be used to improve existing trace analysis tools.
Keywords :
data flow analysis; object-oriented programming; reverse engineering; software metrics; software execution traces; software metrics; software system behavior understanding; trace analysis tools; trace complexity measurement; Design engineering; Displays; Event detection; Information analysis; Pattern analysis; Performance analysis; Software measurement; Software systems; Software tools; Visualization;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, 2005. ICECCS 2005. Proceedings. 10th IEEE International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-2284-X
DOI :
10.1109/ICECCS.2005.57