How does automatic relative debugging work in the HWT?
The second functionality of the HWT is Automatic Relative Debugging (ARD). This is a debugging method in which reference data, often from another version of the program, are used to determine automatically if intermediate data in a program execution are correct or not. While the reference data may be taken from any source, it is more common that this method is used to compare a “correct” version of the program with the one that needs to be debugged. For instance, if the goal is to parallelize a program, the serial program version may serve as a reference for the parallel one under development. To achieve this it is necessary to define which data need to be compared with which. The HWT solves this problem by means of a set of library routines that are supplied with the package. Calls to these routines are used to define a unique Data Identifier, which is then printed out with the data that need to be compared. The comparison only takes place if the data identifier matches between the re
