Object load introspection using guarded storage

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

• determine objects of interest designated by a user, wherein the objects of interest comprise basic units of object oriented programming;
• split a first subset of a predetermined memory heap into guarded regions based on a corresponding number of objects of interest, wherein the predetermined memory heap comprises an area of memory used for dynamic allocations;
• allocate each of the objects of interest to a respective one of the guarded regions and remaining objects to a second subset of the predetermined memory heap;
• execute a program;
• detect one of the objects of interest of the program is loaded from one of the guarded regions of the predetermined memory heap during the execution of the program;
• generate, in response to detecting the one of the objects of interest of the program is loaded from one of the guarded regions of the predetermined memory heap, a trap that transfers control of the execution of the program to a signal handler, wherein the signal handler is designated to perform a user-defined object introspection task associated with the one of the objects of interest;
• execute, by the signal handler, the user-defined object introspection task;
• and
• perform a regular load of the object of interest.

A system comprising:

• a processor, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device;
• program instructions to determine objects of interest designated by a user, wherein the objects of interest comprise basic units of object oriented programming;
• program instructions to split a first subset of a predetermined memory heap into guarded regions based on a corresponding number of objects of interest, wherein the memory heap comprises an area of memory used for dynamic allocations;
• program instructions to allocate each of the objects of interest to a respective one of the guarded regions and remaining objects to a second subset of the predetermined memory heap;
• program instructions to execute a program;
• program instructions to detect one of the objects of interest of the program is loaded from one of the guarded regions of the predetermined memory heap during the execution of the program;
• program instructions to generate, in response to detecting the one of the objects of interest of the program is loaded from one of the guarded regions of the predetermined memory heap, a trap that transfers control of the execution of the program to a signal handler, wherein the signal handler is designated to perform a user-defined object introspection task associated with the one of the objects of interest;
• program instructions to execute, by the signal handler, the user-defined object introspection task;
• and
• program instructions to perform a regular load of the object of interest,
• wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.