RuntimeSearch: Ctrl+F for a Running Program
This addresses a specific debugging need for developers by extending search capabilities beyond static code to runtime values.
The paper tackles the problem of searching for terms in a running program, introducing RuntimeSearch to search string expressions during execution and pause the program for debugging, demonstrating feasibility on a medium-sized Java project.
Developers often try to find occurrences of a certain term in a software system. Traditionally, a text search is limited to static source code files. In this paper, we introduce a simple approach, RuntimeSearch, where the given term is searched in the values of all string expressions in a running program. When a match is found, the program is paused and its runtime properties can be explored with a traditional debugger. The feasibility and usefulness of RuntimeSearch is demonstrated on a medium-sized Java project.