Debugging Equation-Based Languages in OpenModelica Environment

Abstract: The need for debugging tools for declarative programming languages has increased due to the rapid development of modeling and simulation tools/programs. Declarative equation-based programming languages have the problem of equation systems being over-, or under-constrained. This means that the system of equations has more equations than variables or more variables than equations respectively, making the system of equations unsolvable. In this study a static debugger is implemented in OpenModelica compiler for the equation-based programming language Modelica to make it easier for the programmer or modeler to locate the equation/s causing the unconstrained system of equations. The debugging techniques used by the debugger are developed by Peter Bunus. Those techniques are able to detect unconstrained systems of equations and give solutions by identifying the minimal set ofequation/s that should be removed or which variable/s should be added to an equation/s to make the system solvable. In this study the debugging techniques for detecting and giving a solution for over-constrained system of equations are shown suitable to be used for the programming language Modelica in the OpenModelica compiler.