Method and system for data centric heap profiling

1. A method, implemented in a computing device, for data centric heap profiling, comprising:

generating a type table for data structure types in source code using a compiler of the computing device;

identifying each heap allocation site and a corresponding data structure type in the source code using the compiler, wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type comprises:

generating a heap allocation site table which includes a program counter (PC) value, an allocation/de-allocation flag, and at least one pointer to at least one of the data structure types; and

generating a mapping between the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using the at least one pointer;

wherein the type table and the heap allocation site table are written to a non-loadable section of binary/object files generated by the compiler; and

generating a data centric view of a heap of an application compiled from the source code based on the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using a debugger of the computing device when a snapshot of the heap is requested during an execution of the application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the type table comprises a data structure type and a size of the data structure type.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the data centric view of the heap comprises generating a run-time heap allocation call stack table which includes an address allocated for the each heap allocation site, a size of the address, the allocation/de-allocation flag, and the PC value.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the data centric view of the heap further comprises mapping a call graph signature at the point of the each heap allocation site to the corresponding data structure type, wherein the call graph signature comprises a set of functions along a code path from the each heap allocation site to a main function.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type is based on an intra-procedural analysis.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type is based on an inter-procedural analysis, further comprising casting a pointer to void* as a pointer to a correct data structure type.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source code is written using a weakly typed language which includes C, C++, Pascal, Scripting language, and Python.

8. A system for data centric heap profiling, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory configured for temporarily storing a set of instructions for a data

centric heap profiling module, when executed by the processor, causes the

processor to perform a method comprising:

generating a type table for data structure types in source code using a compiler of a computing device;

identifying each heap allocation site and a corresponding data structure type in the source code using the compiler, wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type comprises:

generating a heap allocation site table which includes a program counter (PC) value, an allocation/de-allocation flag, and at least one pointer to at least one of the data structure types; and

generating a mapping between the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using the at least one pointer;

wherein the type table and the heap allocation site table are written to a non-loadable section of binary/object files generated by the compiler; and

generating a data centric view of a heap of an application compiled from the source code based on the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using a debugger of the computing device when a snapshot of the heap is requested during an execution of the application.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the source code is written using a weakly typed language which includes C, C++, Pascal, Scripting language, and Python.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium for a data centric heap profiling having instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

generating a type table for data structure types in source code using a compiler of the computer;

identifying each heap allocation site and a corresponding data structure type in the source code using the compiler, wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type comprises:

generating a heap allocation site table which includes a program counter (PC) value, an allocation/de-allocation flag, and at least one pointer to at least one of the data structure types; and

generating a mapping between the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using the at least one pointer;

wherein the type table and the heap allocation site table are written to a non-loadable section of binary/object files generated by the compiler; and

generating a data centric view of a heap of an application compiled from the source code based on the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using a debugger of the computer when a snapshot of the heap is requested during an execution of the application.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the identifying the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type comprises:

generating a heap allocation site table which includes a PC value, an allocation/de-allocation flag, and at least one pointer to at least one of the data structure types; and

generating a mapping between the each heap allocation site and the corresponding data structure type using the at least one pointer.