CRII: SHF: General, Precise and Accurate Fault Localization

定位故障是软件开发中最昂贵的任务之一（如果不是最昂贵的话）。考虑到软件系统的复杂性，识别故障就像大海捞针。这个项目探索了一种通用的方法，它将帮助程序员定位软件系统中的故障。目标是开发一种方法，根据从程序执行中收集的证据，精确定位程序中的错误位置。该项目可以大大降低软件开发成本。更广泛地说，该项目可以在总体上推进断层定位的科学知识。帮助程序员进行调试的进步也将使计算机科学教育更容易为公众所接受。该项目探索了通用、精确和准确的故障定位新技术。该方法采用了一种新颖的执行跟踪模型，适用于不同粒度的程序执行的各种表示。基于概率推断，它准确地指出程序中最有可能出现故障的位置，而不是报告每个可能导致故障的位置，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.