diff --git a/src/lib/format-obj.cpp b/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
index 8fd4ca1f2..d9e9f5885 100644
--- a/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 
 #include "lib/error.hpp"
 #include "lib/format-obj.hpp"
+//#include "lib/format-string.hpp"
 #include "lib/unique-malloc-owner.hpp"
 #include "lib/symbol.hpp"
 
@@ -49,11 +50,26 @@
 #include <cxxabi.h>
 #endif
 
+#include <iomanip>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 
-
+//using util::_Fmt;
 using std::string;
 
+
+namespace { // hard-wired configuration for debugging output....
+  
+  // precision for rendering of double values
+  const auto DIAGNOSTICS_DOUBLE_PRECISION = 8;
+  const auto DIAGNOSTICS_FLOAT_PRECISION  = 5;
+  
+  /** amount of hex digits required to represent an address on this plattform */
+  const auto PLATFORM_ADDRESS_HEX_DIGITS = sizeof(size_t) * 2;
+}
+
+
+
 namespace lib  {
 namespace meta {
   
@@ -132,7 +148,12 @@ apologies for that."
     return typeName;
   }
   
-}}
+}}// namespace lib::meta
+
+
+
+
+/* === formatting and pretty printing support uitls === */
 
 namespace util {
   
@@ -141,11 +162,59 @@ namespace util {
     
   }//(End) implementation details
   
-  
+  using std::ostringstream;
+  using std::hex;
+  using std::setw;
+  using std::right;
+  using std::setfill;
+  using std::noshowbase;
   
   
   /**
+   * @return fixed point string representation, never empty
+   * @note we set an explicit precision, since this is a diagnostic facility
+   * @remarks typically do not want to see all digits, but, for test code,
+   *       we do want a predictable string representation of simple fractional
+   *       values like `0.1` (which can not be represented as binary floats)
    */
+  string
+  showDouble (double val)  noexcept
+    try {
+      ostringstream buffer;
+      buffer.precision (DIAGNOSTICS_DOUBLE_PRECISION);
+      buffer << val;
+      return buffer.str();
+    }
+    catch(...)
+    { return "↯"; }
+  
+  
+  string
+  showFloat (float val)  noexcept
+    try {
+      std::ostringstream buffer;
+      buffer.precision (DIAGNOSTICS_FLOAT_PRECISION);
+      buffer << val;
+      return buffer.str();
+    }
+    catch(...)
+    { return "↯"; }
+  
+  
+  string
+  showAddr (void *addr)  noexcept
+    try {
+      std::ostringstream buffer;
+      buffer << hex
+             << noshowbase
+             << setw (PLATFORM_ADDRESS_HEX_DIGITS)
+             << setfill('_')
+             << right
+             << addr;
+      return buffer.str();
+    }
+    catch(...)
+    { return "↯"; }
   
   
   
diff --git a/src/lib/format-obj.hpp b/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
index 6bb0d5edc..7d018b396 100644
--- a/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
@@ -68,11 +68,15 @@ namespace meta {
   
   std::string humanReadableTypeID (lib::Literal);
   
-}} // namespace lib::meta
+}}// namespace lib::meta
 
 
 namespace util {
   
+  std::string showDouble (double) noexcept;
+  std::string showFloat (float)    noexcept;
+  std::string showAddr (void *addr) noexcept;
+  
   
   
 } // namespace util
diff --git a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
index b519cff39..9f713aa30 100644
--- a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
@@ -204,16 +204,18 @@ namespace meta {
    */
   template<typename TY>
   inline std::string
-  typeStr (const TY* obj=nullptr)
-  {
-    auto mangledType = obj? typeid(obj).name()
-                          : typeid(TY).name();
-    return humanReadableTypeID (mangledType);
-  }
+  typeStr (const TY* obj =nullptr)  noexcept
+    try {
+      auto mangledType = obj? typeid(obj).name()
+                            : typeid(TY).name();
+      return humanReadableTypeID (mangledType);
+    }
+    catch(...)
+    { return "↯"; }
   
   template<typename TY>
   inline std::string
-  typeStr (TY const& ref)
+  typeStr (TY const& ref)  noexcept
   {
     return typeStr (&ref);
   }
@@ -234,20 +236,55 @@ namespace meta {
   template<typename X, typename COND =void>
   struct CustomStringConv
     {
-      static std::string invoke (X const& x) { return "«"+typeStr(x)+"»"; }
+      static std::string
+      invoke (X const& x)  noexcept
+        try        { return "«"+typeStr(x)+"»"; }
+        catch(...) { return "↯"; }
     };
   
   template<typename X>
   struct CustomStringConv<X,     enable_if<can_convertToString<X>> >
     {
       static std::string
-      invoke (X const& val)
+      invoke (X const& val) noexcept
         try        { return std::string(val); }
         catch(...) { return "↯"; }
     };
+  
+  // NOTE: this is meant to be extensible;
+  //       more specialisations are e.g. in format-obj.hpp
+  
+}}// namespace lib::meta
 
+
+
+namespace util {
+  
+  /** pretty-print a double in fixed-point format */
+  std::string showDouble (double) noexcept;
+  std::string showFloat (float)   noexcept;
+  
+  /** pretty-print an address as hex-string */
+  std::string showAddr (void *addr) noexcept;
+  
+  template<typename X>
+  inline std::string
+  showAddr (const X& elm)  noexcept
+  {
+    return showAddr(&elm);
+  }
+  
+  
+  /** diagnostics helper for explicitly indicating pointers */
+  template<typename X>
+  inline std::string
+  showPtr (X* ptr =nullptr)
+  {
+    return ptr? showAddr(ptr) + " ↗" + lib::meta::CustomStringConv<X>::invoke(*ptr)
+              : "⟂ «" + typeStr(ptr) + "»";
+  }
   
   
   
-}} // namespace lib::meta
-#endif
+}// namespace util
+#endif /*LIB_META_UTIL_H*/