More tools were needed, but fewer tools could be created. DPCL is intended to correct this problem by significantly reducing the cost of developing new instrumentation. A desirable side effect of reducing instrumentation cost is that it becomes cost effective to experiment with more speculative analysis techniques. Novel and innovative ideas can be evaluated inexpensively, which leads to a greater variety of tools available to the whole industry. Consistent cross-language support DPCL works at the level of the executable image.
Instrumentation is placed in the memory image of the running program.
This gives DPCL several advantages. Since instrumentation is placed in the program after it has been compiled, it does not affect compiler optimization. Instrumentation may be placed anywhere within a program at any time, and it may be removed at any time. Since DPCL works on the executable image, there is no need to recompile the application when instrumentation is added or changed. Another advantage is that DPCL is able to work with multiple tools concurrently.