Dynamic program slicing

A dynamic program slice is an executable subset of the original program that produces the same computations on a subset of selected variables and inputs that can be handled more precisely and the size of slice can be significantly reduced, leading to a finer localization of the fault.

Abstract

A dynamic program slice is an executable subset of the original program that produces the same computations on a subset of selected variables and inputs. It differs from the static slice (Weiser, 1982, 1984) in that it is entirely defined on the basis of a computation. The two main advantages are the following: Arrays and dynamic data structures can be handled more precisely and the size of slice can be significantly reduced, leading to a finer localization of the fault. The approach is being investigated as a possible extension of the debugging capabilities of STAD, a recently developed System for Testing and Debugging (Korel and Laski, 1987; Laski, 1987).