The document discusses debugging failures in multi-component applications. It notes that reproducing failures is challenging due to interactions across components. It recommends first reproducing the failure using a GUI or test driver, then isolating the faulty component behavior by simplifying the interaction across borders like method calls, field accesses, and exception flow.

1. Replaying and Isolating
Failing Multi-Object
Interactions
Martin Burger • Andreas Zeller
Saarland University

2. • e-mail client written in Java
• 100,200 LOC
• ~ 1,600 Java classes
• 17 developers
• Actively developed from February 2001 to August 2007

3. Debugging 101
1. reproduce the original failure
- manually by using GUI
- test driver that reproduce faulty behavior

4. Debugging 101
1. reproduce the original failure
- manually by using GUI
- test driver that reproduce faulty behavior
2. fix the actual defect
- focus on relevant behavior
- simplify faulty behavior

5. Faulty Component Behavior
component
application set of classes