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Conference turris::ada

Title:DEC Ada
Notice:Ada is no longer a trademark of the US Government
Moderator:KMOOSE::CMCCUTCHEON
Created:Mon Jan 27 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3874
Total number of notes:16668

3857.0. "DEBUGGING OPTIMIZED ADA CODE" by TAV02::MILCHIN () Mon Mar 31 1997 07:38

	HI!

	In the DEC ADA V3.3 for OPENVMS ALPHA release_notes i found the following
paragraph:

>        2.4.3 New Debugging Support for Optimized Code
>
>             The DEC Ada V3.3 compiler supports new semantic stepping
>             support and split-lifetime support. These features improve
>             the ability to debug optimized code.

	Specifically, the customer's application has been compiled with
/DEBUG/OPTIMIZE=DEVELOPMENT. On VAX he has been able to debug such code, but on
ALPHA he is completely lost. I explained him the impacts of optimization on the
produced code, but he still would like to know whether it is possible to DEBUG
the ADA program compiled with /OPTIMIZE=DEVELOPMENT, especialy, in the light of the 
above paragraph. I also refered him to chapter 12.1 in the DEBUGGER MANUAL for
OPENVMS systems, which explaines general concepts in debugging optimized code,
but he asks for ADA-specific guidelines. Where can I find this material?

	THANKS
		MICHAEL
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
3857.1What problem does the user see? Compiling /noopt is recommendedKMOOSE::CMCCUTCHEONCharlie McCutcheonThu Apr 03 1997 14:2039
Sorry about the delay, we've had a blizzard in the Northeast, I'm finally
back at work today!

>	Specifically, the customer's application has been compiled with
>/DEBUG/OPTIMIZE=DEVELOPMENT. On VAX he has been able to debug such code, but on
>ALPHA he is completely lost. I explained him the impacts of optimization on the
>produced code, but he still would like to know whether it is possible to DEBUG
>the ADA program compiled with /OPTIMIZE=DEVELOPMENT, especialy, in the light of
>the 

What specific problems is your user seeing?

Please note:

	- VAX and Alpha compiler have completely different code generators.
	This means that debugging is also different.

	- Compiling without optimization, /noopt is the only sure way to be
	able to debug.  If this does not allow debugging, other levels of
	optimization will not either, in spite of any new features we've
	documented.

	- /opt=development is believed to include some optimizations that
	do not get in the way of debugging.  I'd have to check what these
	are.  This has not been heavily tested on Alpha.

	- The release notes information on debugging optimized code is based
	on GEM common code generator work for baselevel BL31.  This work was
	not Ada specific, and was not heavily tested by the Ada group.

>OPENVMS systems, which explaines general concepts in debugging optimized code,
>but he asks for ADA-specific guidelines. Where can I find this material?

I don't know of any Ada-specific guidelines.  Our party line is that
they should instead compile without optimization.  The work done to 
allow debugging optimized code is language independent by the GEM common
code generator.

Charlie