JPH01287752A - Debugging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve debugging environment by retrieving a symbol table according to symbol information which is inputted by an operator, and fetching and outputting address information regarding the symbol information to a read- out means. CONSTITUTION:A host-side computer 8 equipped with the symbol table 5 is provided in addition to a target-side computer 4 equipped with a storage means 1 stored with a program to be debugged, and the symbol table 5 is referred to by using the symbol information which is inputted by the operator to read out corresponding address information. Then the address of the storage means 1 is specified with this address information and an instruction or data is read out of the corresponding address and executed. Consequently, while the operator can perform the debugging operation according to the constant symbol information throughout the operation without considering address information which is changed or corrected frequently.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a debugging device, by placing a symbol table outside the program to be debugged, the program can be equipped with sufficient functions, and
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a debugging device capable of supporting sympolink debugging, which includes a storage means in which a large number of instructions and data are stored, each assigned an address, and the storage means is searched according to predetermined address information. , a computer on the Cougent side including a reading means for reading an instruction or data within an address specified by the address information, and an execution means for executing the instruction or data read by the reading means; A symbol table is searched according to a symbol table in which symbol information corresponding to an instruction or data and an address of the storage means correlated to this symbol information are written, and symbol information from an input means into which arbitrary symbol information is input by an operator. and address information output means for extracting address information correlated with the symbol information and outputting it to the reading means.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a debugging device, and particularly to a debugging device that is capable of supporting a symbolic debugger while being equipped with sufficient functions for programs installed on a single-board combinator such as a one-chip microcomputer.

In recent years, with advances in semiconductor miniaturization technology and manufacturing technology,
For example, one-chip microcomputers have become more sophisticated and cheaper. As a result, microcomputers have come to be used in a wide range of industrial fields, offering greater flexibility and
The emphasis on developing highly flexible, high-mix, low-volume software is increasing.

Generally, at the software development stage, various tasks are performed, such as creating a source program and translating the source program into an object program with absolute address specification, but debugging to detect and correct program errors is essential. In particular, debugging work is frequently performed when developing high-mix, low-volume software. Debugging involves executing arbitrary instructions, checking the results, or displaying data, etc., and is usually performed using a software support tool called a debugger.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional debuggers of this type include, for example, those that place the program to be debugged and the debugger on the same microcomputer and start the debugger to perform debugging work. There are relatively low-level depacking operations in which the operator is aware of absolute addresses, and ■ relatively low-level debugging operations in which the operator is aware of the reference names (hereinafter referred to as symbol information) added to object program modules. to a high level (
There are so-called symbolic debuggers). In particular, with a symbolic debugger, there is no need to be aware of absolute addresses that are frequently changed or modified throughout the debugging stage, so work errors can be prevented, and debugging work is highly efficient.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, while these conventional symbolic debuggers have the advantage of high debugging efficiency, they do not provide a correlation table between symbol information and absolute addresses (
In general, the capacity of the symbol table often requires about three times the capacity of the object program. When a debugger is installed, the ratio of the debugger to the memory capacity increases, and as a result, the installation of necessary original functions is sometimes restricted. For this reason, single-board computers have no choice but to use the relatively low-level debugger described in (2) above, which poses a problem in terms of the debugging environment. Moreover, single board computers have -1 a wide variety of types;
Many of them are for small quantities, and the debugging environment is a big problem.

The present invention was made in view of these problems, and
By placing the symbol table outside the program being debugged, you can provide sufficient functionality to the program while
The purpose is to provide a debug device that supports sympolink debugging.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 shows a principle block diagram of a debugging device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a storage means 1 stores a large number of instructions and data, each assigned an address, and the storage means 1 is searched according to predetermined address information to find instructions or data within an address specified by the address information. The target side computer 4 includes a reading means 2 for reading data, and an execution means 3 for executing the command or data read by the reading means 2, and a computer 4 for executing a command or data read out by the reading means 2. symbol information and said storage means 1 correlated to this symbol information;
The reading means searches the symbol table 5 in accordance with the symbol information from the input means 6 into which arbitrary symbol information is input by operation, retrieves the address information correlated with the symbol information, and retrieves the address information correlated with the symbol information. The host computer 8 includes an address information output means 7 for outputting information to the computer 2.

[Effect]

In the present invention, a host side computer 8 equipped with a symbol table 5 is provided in addition to a target side computer 4 equipped with a storage means 1 storing a program to be debugged, and the symbol table 5 stores symbol information input by an operator. , and the corresponding address information is read out. Then, the storage means 1 is addressed by this address information, and the command or data within the corresponding address is retrieved and executed.

Therefore, during debugging work, the operator can perform the work according to constant symbol information throughout all stages of debugging work without being aware of address information i (expressed as an absolute address) that is frequently changed or modified. The debugging environment will be improved.

Further, since the symbol table 5 is placed outside the program to be debugged, most of the capacity of the storage means 1 can be allocated to the program, and necessary functions can be fully loaded.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 2.3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a debugging device according to the present invention.

First, the configuration will be explained. In FIG. 2, 10 is a one-chip microcomputer (or single board computer) as a target side computer;
is a host computer; 30 is a terminal as an input means equipped with a keyboard, a display device, a printer, etc.;
The host computer 20 and the terminal 30 are connected by a data bus (for example, R3C232G) of the same standard (indicated by line 21i in the figure).

The one-chip microcomputer 10 has a ROM (
It is configured to include a storage means 10a, a RAM 10b, a CPU (reading means 2, execution means 3) 10c and l1010d. The ROM1Oa contains an object program PC in which a large number of instructions and data are each expressed as character strings, and an address is assigned to each character string.
and a multi-debugger DB are stored. C.P.U.I.
Qc sequentially executes the object program PC to perform predetermined arithmetic processing, and when predetermined command information CM is fetched from the outside via l1010d,
The multi-debugger DB is executed according to this CM. Note that the one-build program PC and the multi-debugger DI3 may be located on the RAM 10b.

On the other hand, the host computer 20 has a ROM 20a
, ROM20b, RAM20c, l1020d, 110
20e and CPU<output means 7) 20f. The ROM 20a stores a communication program that controls data exchange between the one-chip microcomputer 10 and the host computer 20, and the RAM 20G stores symbol tables transferred from an external storage device, etc. as necessary. TBL is stored.

Note that the symbol table TBL may be stored in the ROM 20b in advance.

Here, the symbol table location represents symbol information corresponding to a predetermined character string in the object program PC and the address of the object program PG associated with this symbol information in the form of a correlation table, The arrangement is such that when any symbol information is referenced, the address of the object program PG in which the character string corresponding to the symbol information is stored is retrieved.

The CPU 20f receives the symbol information input into the terminal 30 by the operator, refers to the symbol table TBL, extracts the address, and then inputs this address information into
The process of sending data to the one-chip microcomputer 10 is executed according to the communication program. It also receives data sent from the one-chip microcomputer 10, transfers the data to the terminal 30, and displays or prints it out on the terminal 30.

Next, the effect will be explained.

Now, consider a debugging operation in which a predetermined module in an object program PG is dumped and monitored. Note that a certain reference name (symbol information) is given to the above-mentioned predetermined module throughout the software development stage, and here, for convenience, the reference name will be "! AAA".

First, the operator displays the Proknob l-display on the terminal 30.
〉”, use the keyboard to input the dump command “D”, and then enter the reference name “!”. AAA" is input. The host computer 20 (7) CPU 20f inputs "! ``AAA'', refer to the symbol table TBL, and ``! AAA” associated with the address (for example, “1000”).Then, the CPU 20f reads the address (for example, “1000”) associated with
The dump command "D" and the read "1ooo" are combined to create a command character string "01000" (command information CM). And the CPU20f is
A communication program is executed and a command string is sent to the one-chip microcomputer 10.

When the CPU10C of the one-chip microcomputer 10 decodes the sent command string and determines that it is a dump command, it executes a predetermined number of bytes (for example, 256 bytes) of commands from address "1000" in the object program PC. and data etc. (hereinafter referred to as data etc.). Then, cpUloc transfers the read data as it is (as it is as a character string) to the host computer 20.
Transfer to. CPU U3O of host computer 20
f sends this transferred data etc. to the terminal 30, and
Display on top of 0.

The above-described dump processing can be conceptually represented as shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, (SMBLE) is a symbol area in which a large number of Sisopol information is written, (ADR3)
is an address area in which address information is written in association with the above (SMBLE), and (character data) is an instruction, data, etc.

First, enter “! AAA” on the terminal 30 (SMB
LE) is referenced, and the address information (LE) of the same symbol information (
1000") is retrieved, and then the object program PC displayed with this address information "1000"
character data within the address (for example, 20.34
．． 54, AF) is read out and displayed on the terminal 30. If the process is to dump 256 bytes from address "1000", 256 bytes of data will be displayed on the terminal 30 following the character data.

In this way, in this embodiment, the object program PC
and the symbol table TBL are separated, and the host side computer 2 is installed outside the one-chip microcomputer 10.
The symbol table location is stored in 0. Therefore, the operator performs debugging work without being aware of the absolute address of the object program PC (for example, the above-mentioned "1000").

be able to. In other words, since symbol information remains constant throughout the software development stage and is not normally changed or modified, the debugging work of this embodiment, which is performed while being aware of this symbol information, is highly reliable and efficient. .

In addition, since the symbol table storage, which has a relatively large capacity, is separated from the object program PC and stored in the RAM 2OC of the host computer 20, the ROM 10 of the one-chip microcomputer 10
When storing the object program PC in a,
You can do this with plenty of time. That is, the object program PG can be provided with necessary and sufficient functions.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the terminal 30. Host computer 20. Since the single-chip microcomputers 10 are connected by a data bus of the same standard, the terminal 30 and the single-chip microcomputer 10 can be directly connected without going through the host computer 20. If you do this, you will not be able to use a symbolic debugger, but you will be able to debug with absolute address specification. For example, when "DI000" is input from the terminal 30, the same dump process as in the above embodiment is executed. Therefore, even if the host computer 20 cannot be used, conventional debugging work can be performed.

Note that when an emulator is interposed between the host side computer 20 and the one-chip microcomputer 10, the symbol table TB is
By creating L, it is possible to make the operator unaware of the existence of the emulator.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, a symbolic debugger can be used when debugging a program in a target computer.

Furthermore, since the symbol table is located in the host computer, the program in the target computer can be provided with sufficient functionality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, Fig. 2.3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an overall configuration diagram thereof, and Fig. 3 is a conceptual diagram explaining its operation. be. 1...Storage means, 2...Reading means, 3...Execution means, 4...Target side computer, 5...
...Symbol table, 6...Input means, 7...Output means, 8...Host side computer, 10...
・One-chip microcomputer (target side computer), 10a...ROM (storage means), 10c...
...CPU (reading means, execution means), 20...
...Host side computer, 2Of...C
PU (output means), TBL... symbol table, 30... terminal (input means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] A storage means (1) in which a large number of instructions and data are stored, each assigned an address; A target side computer (4) including a reading means (2) for reading an instruction or data in an address, and an execution means (3) for executing the instruction or data read by the reading means (2), and A symbol table (5) in which symbol information corresponding to a predetermined command or data in the storage means (1) and an address of the storage means (1) correlated to this symbol information are written, and an operator can input arbitrary symbol information. address information output means () that searches the symbol table (5) according to symbol information inputted from the input means (6), extracts address information correlated with the symbol information and outputs it to the reading means (2);
7) A debugging device comprising a host computer (8).