xeus-cpp is an interactive execution environment for C++ in Jupyter notebooks, built on the Clang-Repl C++ interpreter, provided by CppInterOp. While xeus-cpp enables a seamless workflow for running C++ code interactively, the lack of an integrated debugging experience remains a gap, especially when dealing with code that is dynamically compiled and executed through LLVM’s JIT(Just-In-Time) infrastructure.
Jupyter’s debugging system follows the Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP), enabling seamless integration of debuggers into interactive kernels. Existing Jupyter kernels, such as the IPython & the xeus-python kernel, have successfully implemented debugging workflows that support breakpoints, variable inspection, and execution control, even in dynamically executed environments. These implementations address challenges such as symbol resolution and source mapping for dynamically generated code, ensuring that debugging within Jupyter remains intuitive and user-friendly.
However, debugging C++ inside an interactive environment presents unique challenges, particularly due to Clang-Repl’s use of LLVM’s ORC JIT to compile and execute code dynamically. To integrate debugging into xeus-cpp, the project will explore existing solutions for DAP implementations like lldb_dap and debuggers like lldb that can interface with Jupyter while effectively supporting the execution model of Clang-Repl.
xeus-zmq to thoroughly test the debugger. This can be inspired by an existing implementation in xeus-python.