A method for performing debugging of an executable source program in a massively parallel processing environment involves associating a major cycle counter and a minor cycle counter with each of a plurality of execution processors in the massively parallel processing environment, obtaining a first stopping point value associated with the major cycle counter and a second stopping point value associated with the minor cycle counter, executing instructions of the executable source program on each of the plurality of execution processors, modifying the major cycle counter and the minor cycle counter, and halting each of the plurality of execution processors and returning control to the user if the major cycle counter reaches the first stopping point value and the minor cycle counter reaches the second stopping point value.