TweetFollow Us on Twitter

SADE Debugging
Volume Number:5
Issue Number:9
Column Tag:Programmer's Workshop

SADE™ Debugging

By Joe Pillera, Ann Arbor, MI

Debugging In MPW With SADE™

Joe Pillera is a Scientific Staff Member at Bell Northern Research (BNR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Prior to this he was a Systems Analyst at the Ford Motor Company. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science from Eastern Michigan University, and is now a Master’s of Computer Science degree candidate at Wayne State University. His primary area of research is object oriented programming and software engineering.

Introduction

A good debugger is a programmer’s best friend. One of the serious drawbacks to MPW (Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop) software development has always been a lack of a source level debugger (no, I don’t consider MacsBug hexadecimal dumps debugging!). Until now. Introducing SADE™ - the Symbolic Application Debugging Environment. This is Apple’s new source level debugger for MPW 3.0 and beyond.

In this article I plan to cover the following:

• An overview of SADE.

• SADE in action - debugging a sample C program.

• A numerical integrator - pushing the SADE script language to the limit.

• Talking straight - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Note that even though this is not a ‘comparison’ article, I will occasionally mention THINK’s Lightspeed™ debuggers (because of their excellent performance), as a frame of reference in discussing SADE.

Figure 1. The SADE Menu System

What Is SADE, Anyway?

SADE is not an MPW tool, nor is it physically part of the MPW shell. It is simply a stand-alone application that communicates with your target program under Multifinder. As in THINK’s Lightspeed C, this debugger must be operated under Multifinder, to allow interprocess communication. Two or more megs of memory are strongly recommended; however, the manual does indicate you can squeeze by with one meg. The only special requirements to run SADE are:

1. You must be using Multifinder 6.1b7 or later.

2. The (Pascal or C) compiler must be instructed to generate ‘symbol’ files during program compiles.

One of the more interesting design decisions Apple made was to make SADE appear almost identical to the MPW Shell. This has both an advantage and a disadvantage: the advantage is that of instant familiarity to existing MPW programmers; the disadvantage is that this precludes the use of a user-friendly, animated interface (such as the debuggers used in THINK’s Lightspeed C and Lightspeed Pascal).

Please refer to Figure 1 for a closer look at SADE’s functionality.

Wade Through Your Code With SADE

The most fundamental operation in using a debugger is setting a breakpoint in the source code. Because SADE is so sophisticated, there are four ways to do this:

1. Enter the break command from the SADE command interpreter. The syntax (for debugging a C program) is:

 break <function name>.(<line number>)

2. Call the function SysError from within the C code itself. The syntax of this approach is:

 #include <Errors.h>
 . . .
 SysError(<integer from 129..32511>).

3. Press the SADEKey (Command-Option-<period>).

4. Open a source code file (as read-only from SADE), and use the mouse to select a line of code. Then execute ‘Break’ from the SourceCmds menu.

Method number 1 is fine if your functions are small, otherwise counting the individual lines of code could prove cumbersome.

Why does method number 2 work? When using version 6.1b7 and above of Multifinder, MC68000 exceptions are passed to SADE, if present; if SADE isn’t a concurrently executing task, then a system exception occurs.

Personally, I think method number 3 is somewhat satirical; trying to guess which machine instruction you are now (ahem, were) executing can cause brain damage.

Method number 4, of course, appears to be the most user-friendly of them all.

So in practice, it would seem that all methods except number three can be easily used to set break points in your own code. Refer to Figure 2 for an example of starting up SADE and setting breakpoints. For an illustration of SADE stopping at a breakpoint, please refer to Figure 3. The MPW C source listings will also provide more information on how to set breakpoints within your own code.

One interesting thing I noticed is that a SysError() breakpoint will stop after that line of code is executed, whereas setting a normal breakpoint will stop before that line of code.

SADE has complete facilities for keeping track of variable values. You can either perform a Show Value, which shows the contents of the variable of your choice, or you can use the Watch feature. This feature is analogous to THINK’s Lightspeed Pascal’s ‘Observe’ window: every time a variable’s value changes, it is updated in a display window for you. Please refer to Figure 4 for an example from the ‘Test’ program.

And of course, you have complete code stepping facilities: single step lines of code, and even control whether or not you step into procedure calls.

Program Your Bugs Away

All of the aforementioned features can be found in most other debuggers. However, the feature that sets SADE apart from any other debugger I’ve used is its internal programming facility (henceforth, I’ll refer to SADE programs as ‘scripts’, to differentiate these from your C & Pascal programs). You can actually write SADE procedures and functions to automate debugging tasks. And if that’s not enough, how about a slew of predefined procedures (even printf ) and reserved system variables? Furthermore, complete expression evaluation is possible, including pointer manipulation, bit-wise operations, and string manipulation.

The script facility of SADE is so extensive, it strongly resembles Pascal. Not only that, SADE procedures and functions are fully capable of recursion. Unlike Pascal, however, all variables are dynamically typed - based on their use in the program; this would appear to be the result of an interpretative implementation of this language.

To execute a SADE script, enter the script name (followed by any arguments) and press ‘enter’ from the numeric keypad. Thus, script invocation is identical to executing MPW tools. Before a SADE subroutine can be run, the file that contains it must first be loaded into memory; this is done as follows:

 execute ‘<Full HFS Path>:<File Name>’

As an example, I’ve developed a general purpose numerical integration script, which when given any arbitrary function f(x), will find the (approximate) integral bounded between two values ‘a’ and ‘b’. The foundation to my algorithm is the SADE eval function; this function takes a string representing an expression, and then proceeds to parse it in search of an answer. For example:

 define x = 5
 eval(‘x * 2’)

When executed at the SADE command line, this would return ‘10’ as the result.

The technique of integration I use is called Simpson’s Rule, which partitions an interval from ‘a’ to ‘b’ an even number of times (i.e. N=2M partitions). We then approximate the graph of f(x) by M segments of parabolas; the technique is shown below:

In my case, I partition each region between n and n+1 four times, giving delta x the value of 0.25; integration then simply becomes a matter of alternating the coefficients of the intermediate data values.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy - because I wanted to be able to integrate any continuous function I could think of, not just the simple ones. As it turns out, simple mathematical functions (such as x**n) are not known to SADE, so I had to write my own.

How did I do this for polynomials? Using something called a Taylor Expansion, it is possible to calculate x**n (x to the nth power), where either ‘x’ or ‘n’ can be floating point values. Taylor Expansions are open-ended functions, so it is necessary to determine a stopping criteria that is both accurate and efficient. The Taylor Expansion for x**n is shown below:

For example: because both ‘x’ and ‘n’ can be floating point numbers, integrating the square root of ‘x’ is simply a matter of integrating x**(1/2) power.

Just one more problem - ln(x) is not known to SADE either, so here’s the approximation for it:

This approximation, of course, is only valid for x > 0. For an example of a simple polynomial integration, please refer to Figure 5.

However, before you throw away your favorite numerical analysis package, I should warn you that I found SADE to have problems maintaining floating point precision. Take a look at my exponent script: I noticed that using tricks such as intermediate variables for subexpressions made the difference between a correct answer and something way out in left field. SADE’s natural habitat seems to be integers, which would make a lot of sense seeing how it’s a debugging environment. Therefore, even though Simpson’s Rule will (theoretically) work on any continuous function, my SADE script will only work in cases when SADE handles floating point calculations correctly. We should remember, that SADE is a debugging environment, so I don't consider this to be a drawback.

If all these features still aren’t enough, SADE even provides high level calls to prompt the user with dialog boxes, add custom menus, and even generate music! In short, SADE has every power-tool a programmer could ever ask for in a debugger.

Straight Talk About SADE

SADE is by far the most sophisticated and user-extendable debugger I’ve ever used - but I do have one complaint: its user interface. This drawback is caused by SADE’s own complexity: at times it seems to offer you too many features. All of these features in turn dictate a user-interface that’s not as elegant as the Lightspeed debuggers. If SADE were made to be more user-friendly, even at the expense of some of its bells and whistles, Apple would have a world-class debugger in their hands.

The End...

MacsBug, MPW, Multifinder and SADE are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Lightspeed is a registered trademark of Lightspeed, Inc.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author, and not of Bell Northern Research Inc., or its employees.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Apple Computer, Inc. (1989) SADE: Symbolic Application Debugging Environment, Apple Programmer’s and Developer’s Association, Cupertino, California.

Beyer, William H., PhD. (1978) “Series Expansion,” p.387 in Standard Mathematical Tables - 25th Edition, CRC Press Inc., Boca Raton, Florida.

Shenk, Al, PhD. (1979) “Techniques of Integration,” pp. 424-425 in Calculus and Analytic Geometry - 2nd Edition, Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, Illinois.

Symantec, Inc. (1989) “Debugging Programs,” pp. 103-110 in THINK’s Lightspeed Pascal User’s Manual, The Symantec Corporation, Cupertino, California.

Symantec, Inc. (1989) “The Debugger,” pp. 129-145 in THINK’s Lightspeed C User’s Manual, The Symantec Corporation, Cupertino, California.

========== The Integrator Script ===========

# ----------------------------------------
# A simple but powerful use of the SADE™
# script langauge to perform numercial
# integration on almost any function.
# ----------------------------------------
# Copyright © Joe Pillera, 1989
# All Rights reserved
# ----------------------------------------

# ----------------------------------------
#            func integrate(a,b) 
# ----------------------------------------
# Integrate a global function ‘f(x)’ from 
# a to b.  
# ----------------------------------------
# INPUTS:
# a -> integer or floating point
# b -> integer or floating point
# ----------------------------------------
func integrate(lower,upper)
  define factor, result, index, x
  index := lower
  factor := 2
  result := 0
  while index <= upper
    x := index
    if (index = lower) or (index = upper) then
      result := result + eval(f)
   else
     result := result + (factor * eval(f))
   end
   index := index + 0.25
   if factor = 2 then
     factor := 4
   else
     factor := 2
    end
  end
  return (1.0/12.0) * result
end

# ----------------------------------------
# func ln(x)  -> Compute natural log of x
# ----------------------------------------
# INPUTS:
# x -> integer or floating point
# ----------------------------------------
func ln(x)
  define result, term, index, frac
  term   := (x - 1.0) / (x + 1.0)
  result := term + (0.3333 * power(term,3))
  index := 5
  while index <= 25 do
    frac := 1.0 / index
    result := result + 
              (frac * power(term,index))
    index := index + 2
  end
  return (2.0 * result)
end

# ----------------------------------------
# func exponent(a,x) -> Compute a ** x 
# ----------------------------------------
# INPUTS:
# a -> integer or floating point
# x -> integer or floating point
# ----------------------------------------
# NOTE: Use power(a,x) if ‘x’ is a integer,
#       because that routine is faster.
# ----------------------------------------
func exponent(a,x)
  define result,iteration,term
  define numerator,denominator
  term   := x * ln(a) 
  result := 1.0 + term
  for iteration := 2 to 15 do
    numerator   := power(term,iteration)
   denominator := fact(iteration)
    result := result + 
              (numerator / denominator)
  end
  return result
end 

# ----------------------------------------
# func power(x,n)  -> Compute x ** n
# ----------------------------------------
# INPUTS:
# x -> integer or floating point
# n -> integer
# ----------------------------------------
# NOTE: Use iteration for speed.
# ----------------------------------------
func power(x,n)
  define index, result
  if n = 0 then
    return 1
  elseif n = 1 then
    return x
  else
    result := x
    for index := 2 to n do
     result := result * x
  end
  return result
end

# ----------------------------------------
# func fact(n)  -> Compute n!
# ----------------------------------------
# INPUTS:
# n -> integer 
# ----------------------------------------
func fact(n)
  if n = 0 then
    return 1
  elseif n = 1 then
    return 1
  else
    return ( n * fact(n-1) )
  end
end

================== Main.C ==================

#include <Errors.h>

int  number;

main()
{    
  /* Set breakpoint #1 here (from SADE) */
  number = 1;
  
  /* Now pass control to func, and let */
  /* it alter the “number” variable.   */
  func();
 
  /* Hard code breakpoint #3 here */
  SysError(129); 
}

================== Func.C ==================

extern int number;

void func()
{
  /* Set breakpoint #2 here (from SADE) */
  number = 10;
}

================== Test.R ==================

#include “SysTypes.r”

resource ‘vers’ (1) {
    0x1,
    0x00,
    release,
    0x0,
    verUS,
    “”,
    “1.0 / MacTutor Magazine”
};

resource ‘vers’ (2) {
    0x1,
    0x00,
    release,
    0x0,
    verUS,
    “”,
    “For Use With MPW SADE™ Only!”
};

=============== Make File =================

Test ƒƒ Test.make test.r
 Rez test.r -append -o Test
func.c.o ƒ Test.make func.c
  C -sym on func.c
main.c.o ƒ Test.make main.c
  C -sym on main.c

SOURCES = test.r func.c main.c
OBJECTS = func.c.o main.c.o

Test ƒƒ Test.make {OBJECTS}
 Link -w -t APPL -c ‘????’ -sym on -mf 
 {OBJECTS} 
 “{CLibraries}”CRuntime.o 
 “{Libraries}”Interface.o 
 “{CLibraries}”StdCLib.o 
 “{CLibraries}”CSANELib.o 
 “{CLibraries}”Math.o 
 “{CLibraries}”CInterface.o 
 -o Test

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

Chromium 119.0.6044.0 - Fast and stable...
Chromium is an open-source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all Internet users to experience the web. List of changes available here. Version for Apple... Read more
Spotify 1.2.21.1104 - Stream music, crea...
Spotify is a streaming music service that gives you on-demand access to millions of songs. Whether you like driving rock, silky R&B, or grandiose classical music, Spotify's massive catalogue puts... Read more
Tor Browser 12.5.5 - Anonymize Web brows...
Using Tor Browser you can protect yourself against tracking, surveillance, and censorship. Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a third-generation onion-routing project of the U.... Read more
Malwarebytes 4.21.9.5141 - Adware remova...
Malwarebytes (was AdwareMedic) helps you get your Mac experience back. Malwarebytes scans for and removes code that degrades system performance or attacks your system. Making your Mac once again your... Read more
TinkerTool 9.5 - Expanded preference set...
TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into Mac OS X. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the... Read more
Paragon NTFS 15.11.839 - Provides full r...
Paragon NTFS breaks down the barriers between Windows and macOS. Paragon NTFS effectively solves the communication problems between the Mac system and NTFS. Write, edit, copy, move, delete files on... Read more
Apple Safari 17 - Apple's Web brows...
Apple Safari is Apple's web browser that comes bundled with the most recent macOS. Safari is faster and more energy efficient than other browsers, so sites are more responsive and your notebook... Read more
Firefox 118.0 - Fast, safe Web browser.
Firefox offers a fast, safe Web browsing experience. Browse quickly, securely, and effortlessly. With its industry-leading features, Firefox is the choice of Web development professionals and casual... Read more
ClamXAV 3.6.1 - Virus checker based on C...
ClamXAV is a popular virus checker for OS X. Time to take control ClamXAV keeps threats at bay and puts you firmly in charge of your Mac’s security. Scan a specific file or your entire hard drive.... Read more
SuperDuper! 3.8 - Advanced disk cloning/...
SuperDuper! is an advanced, yet easy to use disk copying program. It can, of course, make a straight copy, or "clone" - useful when you want to move all your data from one machine to another, or do a... Read more

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

‘Monster Hunter Now’ October Events Incl...
Niantic and Capcom have just announced this month’s plans for the real world hunting action RPG Monster Hunter Now (Free) for iOS and Android. If you’ve not played it yet, read my launch week review of it here. | Read more »
Listener Emails and the iPhone 15! – The...
In this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show we finally get to a backlog of emails that have been hanging out in our inbox for, oh, about a month or so. We love getting emails as they always lead to interesting discussion about a variety of topics... | Read more »
TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Cypher 00...
This doesn’t happen too often, but occasionally there will be an Apple Arcade game that I adore so much I just have to pick it as the Game of the Week. Well, here we are, and Cypher 007 is one of those games. The big key point here is that Cypher... | Read more »
SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘EA Sports FC 24’...
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 29th, 2023. In today’s article, we’ve got a ton of news to go over. Just a lot going on today, I suppose. After that, there are quite a few new releases to look at... | Read more »
‘Storyteller’ Mobile Review – Perfect fo...
I first played Daniel Benmergui’s Storyteller (Free) through its Nintendo Switch and Steam releases. Read my original review of it here. Since then, a lot of friends who played the game enjoyed it, but thought it was overpriced given the short... | Read more »
An Interview with the Legendary Yu Suzuk...
One of the cool things about my job is that every once in a while, I get to talk to the people behind the games. It’s always a pleasure. Well, today we have a really special one for you, dear friends. Mr. Yu Suzuki of Ys Net, the force behind such... | Read more »
New ‘Marvel Snap’ Update Has Balance Adj...
As we wait for the information on the new season to drop, we shall have to content ourselves with looking at the latest update to Marvel Snap (Free). It’s just a balance update, but it makes some very big changes that combined with the arrival of... | Read more »
‘Honkai Star Rail’ Version 1.4 Update Re...
At Sony’s recently-aired presentation, HoYoverse announced the Honkai Star Rail (Free) PS5 release date. Most people speculated that the next major update would arrive alongside the PS5 release. | Read more »
‘Omniheroes’ Major Update “Tide’s Cadenc...
What secrets do the depths of the sea hold? Omniheroes is revealing the mysteries of the deep with its latest “Tide’s Cadence" update, where you can look forward to scoring a free Valkyrie and limited skin among other login rewards like the 2nd... | Read more »
Recruit yourself some run-and-gun royalt...
It is always nice to see the return of a series that has lost a bit of its global staying power, and thanks to Lilith Games' latest collaboration, Warpath will be playing host the the run-and-gun legend that is Metal Slug 3. [Read more] | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Clearance M1 Max Mac Studio available today a...
Apple has clearance M1 Max Mac Studios available in their Certified Refurbished store for $270 off original MSRP. Each Mac Studio comes with Apple’s one-year warranty, and shipping is free: – Mac... Read more
Apple continues to offer 24-inch iMacs for up...
Apple has a full range of 24-inch M1 iMacs available today in their Certified Refurbished store. Models are available starting at only $1099 and range up to $260 off original MSRP. Each iMac is in... Read more
Final weekend for Apple’s 2023 Back to School...
This is the final weekend for Apple’s Back to School Promotion 2023. It remains active until Monday, October 2nd. Education customers receive a free $150 Apple Gift Card with the purchase of a new... Read more
Apple drops prices on refurbished 13-inch M2...
Apple has dropped prices on standard-configuration 13″ M2 MacBook Pros, Certified Refurbished, to as low as $1099 and ranging up to $230 off MSRP. These are the cheapest 13″ M2 MacBook Pros for sale... Read more
14-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro on sale for $300 o...
B&H Photo has the Space Gray 14″ 30-Core GPU M2 Max MacBook Pro in stock and on sale today for $2799 including free 1-2 day shipping. Their price is $300 off Apple’s MSRP, and it’s the lowest... Read more
Apple is now selling Certified Refurbished M2...
Apple has added a full line of standard-configuration M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studios available in their Certified Refurbished section starting at only $1699 and ranging up to $600 off MSRP. Each Mac... Read more
New sale: 13-inch M2 MacBook Airs starting at...
B&H Photo has 13″ MacBook Airs with M2 CPUs in stock today and on sale for $200 off Apple’s MSRP with prices available starting at only $899. Free 1-2 day delivery is available to most US... Read more
Apple has all 15-inch M2 MacBook Airs in stoc...
Apple has Certified Refurbished 15″ M2 MacBook Airs in stock today starting at only $1099 and ranging up to $230 off MSRP. These are the cheapest M2-powered 15″ MacBook Airs for sale today at Apple.... Read more
In stock: Clearance M1 Ultra Mac Studios for...
Apple has clearance M1 Ultra Mac Studios available in their Certified Refurbished store for $540 off original MSRP. Each Mac Studio comes with Apple’s one-year warranty, and shipping is free: – Mac... Read more
Back on sale: Apple’s M2 Mac minis for $100 o...
B&H Photo has Apple’s M2-powered Mac minis back in stock and on sale today for $100 off MSRP. Free 1-2 day shipping is available for most US addresses: – Mac mini M2/256GB SSD: $499, save $100 –... Read more

Jobs Board

Licensed Dental Hygienist - *Apple* River -...
Park Dental Apple River in Somerset, WI is seeking a compassionate, professional Dental Hygienist to join our team-oriented practice. COMPETITIVE PAY AND SIGN-ON Read more
Sublease Associate Optometrist- *Apple* Val...
Sublease Associate Optometrist- Apple Valley, CA- Target Optical Date: Sep 30, 2023 Brand: Target Optical Location: Apple Valley, CA, US, 92307 **Requisition Read more
*Apple* / Mac Administrator - JAMF - Amentum...
Amentum is seeking an ** Apple / Mac Administrator - JAMF** to provide support with the Apple Ecosystem to include hardware and software to join our team and Read more
Child Care Teacher - Glenda Drive/ *Apple* V...
Child Care Teacher - Glenda Drive/ Apple ValleyTeacher Share by Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Twitter Read more
Cashier - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPenney (...
Cashier - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Mall Read more
All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.