System and process for debugging object-oriented programming code leveraging runtime metadata

A system for interactive debugging of a computer application program, comprising:

• a function that marks certain methods as special fields in a source code of the application program, such annotations denoting debugging instructions and indications of which methods are intended for debugging only, and that derives pseudo-field names for the marked certain methods using programming language annotations, or method names based on rules;
• a processing module employing a hardware processor for generating a production version of the application program including the same semantics as the original application program but potentially fewer methods and no debug related annotations, wherein methods that are not annotated as debugging only methods are maintained;
• and
• a debugger configured for debugging purposes using the debugging methods, wherein the pseudo-field names are used as true fields,
• wherein the debugging methods comprise debug-only methods which take no parameter, wherein the pseudo-field names are used as true fields for returning a computed value that is used as a true field value.

A computer program product for interactive debugging of an application program, comprising a computer usable non-transitory medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

• receive source code of the computer program including mark-up information marking certain methods as special fields in a source code of the application program for participating in a debugging process, derive pseudo-field names for the marked certain methods using programming language annotations, or method names based on rules, and generate a debug-enabled version of the computer program including debugging methods based on the special fields;
• executing the debug-enabled version of the application program for debugging purposes using the debugging methods;
• and
• debug the marked certain methods using the pseudo-field names as true fields,
• wherein the debugging methods comprise debug-only methods which take no parameter, wherein debugging the marked certain methods comprises using the pseudo-field names as true fields for returning a computed value that is used as a true field value.