CRII: SHF: General, Precise and Accurate Fault Localization

定位错误是软件开发中最昂贵的任务之一（如果不是）。考虑到软件系统的复杂性，识别错误就像大海捞针。这个项目探索了一个通用的方法，将帮助程序员在定位软件系统中的错误。目标是开发一种方法，精确定位在一个程序中的错误位置，根据证据收集程序执行。该方案可以大大降低软件开发成本。更广泛地说，这个项目可以提高故障定位的科学知识。帮助程序员调试的进步也将使公众更容易获得计算机科学教育。该项目探索了通用的，精确的和准确的故障定位的新技术。该方法使用了一种新的程序执行跟踪模型，适用于不同粒度的程序执行的各种表示。基于概率推理，它准确地指出程序中最可能的故障位置，而不是报告可能导致故障的每个位置，或者报告与故障高度相关的代码片段。这种方法的实用性将在复杂的现实世界系统中得到证明。

Locating faults is one of the (if not the) most expensive tasks in softwaredevelopment. Given the complexity of software systems, identifying a fault islike searching for a needle in a haystack. This project explores a generalapproach that will aid programmers in locating faults in software systems. Thegoal is to develop a methodology for pinpointing at the exact fault locationsin a program, based on evidences collected from program executions. Thisproject can greatly reduce software development cost. More broadly, thisproject can advance the scientific knowledge of fault localization in general.Advances that aid programmer in debugging will also make computer scienceeducation more accessible to the public.The project explores novel techniques for general, precise and accurate faultlocalization. The new method is applicable to various representations ofprogram execution with different granularities, using a novel execution tracemodel. Based on probabilistic inference, it accurately pinpoints at the mostlikely fault locations in a program, rather than reporting every location thatmight contribute to a failure, or reporting a code fragment that is highlycorrelated with failures. The practicality of this approach will bedemonstrated on complex real-world systems.