---
title: "Retrospective Zooming: A Knowledge Based Tracking and Debugging Methodology for Logic Programming"
authors:
  - "Marc Eisenstadt"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/140"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/0140.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1985
pages: "717-718"
track: "Logic Programming"
keywords:
---

# Retrospective Zooming: A Knowledge Based Tracking and Debugging Methodology for Logic Programming

Marc Eisenstadt

*Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 717-718.

## Abstract

This paper describes new tracing and debugging facilities for logic programmming (Prolog in particular), based on a selective retrospective analysis of an exhaustive run-time trace. The tracer uses an enriched repertoire of program success/failure 'symptoms' to improve the clarity of the trace, and identifies characteristic 'symptom clusters' in order to work out the true cause of a bug.