Towards Better Debugging: Data Format Design Session by G. Nicholas D'Andrea, Harry Altman

Fri, Oct 2, 2020, 12:00 AM

Visit the https://archive.devcon.org/ to gain access to the entire library of Devcon talks with the ease of filtering, playlists, personalized suggestions, decentralized access on IPFS and more. https://archive.devcon.org/archive/watch/5/towards-better-debugging-data-format-design-session On traditional computing platforms, most language compilers output debug information to enable debuggers to decode a program's operation and to enable the user to make sense of their code through hands-on inspection. With smart contract languages, however, this is not yet possible. Existing debugging data formats don't support Ethereum's computing paradigm, leaving debuggers to guess at compiler behavior in hopes of understanding how compiled bytecode reflects user-written source. In this breakout session, we will present the current state of debugging support on Ethereum, an overview of how debugging support exists on traditional computing platforms, and what the disconnects are that make this more difficult for Ethereum. From there, we seek to discuss how to overcome these limitations and how we can make smart contract debugging better. The goal of this session is to lay the groundwork for a new data format, including its high-level design and a clear understanding of the path forward for this effort. Speaker(s): Harry Altman, G. Nicholas D'Andrea Skill level: Intermediate Track: Developer Infrastructure Follow us: https://twitter.com/efdevcon, https://twitter.com/ethereum Learn more about devcon: https://www.devcon.org/ Learn more about ethereum: https://ethereum.org/ Devcon is the Ethereum conference for developers, researchers, thinkers, and makers. Devcon 5 was held in Osaka, Japan on Oct 8 - 11, 2019. Devcon is organized and presented by the Ethereum Foundation, with the support of our sponsors. To find out more, please visit https://ethereum.foundation/