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Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems

Name: Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems
Author: Diomidis Spinellis
ISBN: 9780134394909

by Diomidis Spinellis

June 2016

Intermediate to advanced

240 pages

7h 27m

English

Addison-Wesley Professional

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About This E-Book
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
Figures
Listings
Preface
What This Book CoversHow to Use This BookHow to Live Your LifeA Few Notes on TerminologyTypographical and Other ConventionsWhere to Get the Code and Errata
Acknowledgments
About the Author

1. High-Level Strategies
Item 1: Handle All Problems through an Issue-Tracking SystemThings to RememberItem 2: Use Focused Queries to Search the Web for Insights into Your ProblemThings to RememberItem 3: Confirm That Preconditions and Postconditions Are SatisfiedThings to RememberItem 4: Drill Up from the Problem to the Bug or Down from the Program’s Start to the BugThings to RememberItem 5: Find the Difference between a Known Good System and a Failing OneThings to RememberItem 6: Use the Software’s Debugging FacilitiesThings to RememberItem 7: Diversify Your Build and Execution EnvironmentThings to RememberItem 8: Focus Your Work on the Most Important ProblemsThings to Remember
2. General-Purpose Methods and Practices
Item 9: Set Yourself Up for Debugging SuccessThings to RememberItem 10: Enable the Efficient Reproduction of the ProblemThings to RememberItem 11: Minimize the Turnaround Time from Your Changes to Their ResultThings to RememberItem 12: Automate Complex Testing ScenariosThings to RememberItem 13: Enable a Comprehensive Overview of Your Debugging DataThings to RememberItem 14: Consider Updating Your SoftwareThings to RememberItem 15: Consult Third-Party Source Code for Insights on Its UseThings to RememberItem 16: Use Specialized Monitoring and Test EquipmentThings to RememberItem 17: Increase the Prominence of a Failure’s EffectsThings to RememberItem 18: Enable the Debugging of Unwieldy Systems from Your DeskThings to RememberItem 19: Automate Debugging TasksThings to RememberItem 20: Houseclean Before and After DebuggingThings to RememberItem 21: Fix All Instances of a Problem ClassThings to Remember
3. General-Purpose Tools and Techniques
Item 22: Analyze Debug Data with Unix Command-Line ToolsThings to RememberItem 23: Utilize Command-Line Tool Options and IdiomsThings to RememberItem 24: Explore Debug Data with Your EditorThings to RememberItem 25: Optimize Your Work EnvironmentThings to RememberItem 26: Hunt the Causes and History of Bugs with the Revision Control SystemThings to RememberItem 27: Use Monitoring Tools on Systems Composed of Independent ProcessesThings to Remember
4. Debugger Techniques
Item 28: Use Code Compiled for Symbolic DebuggingThings to RememberItem 29: Step through the CodeThings to RememberItem 30: Use Code and Data BreakpointsThings to RememberItem 31: Familiarize Yourself with Reverse DebuggingThings to RememberItem 32: Navigate along the Calls between RoutinesThings to RememberItem 33: Look for Errors by Examining the Values of Variables and ExpressionsThings to RememberItem 34: Know How to Attach a Debugger to a Running ProcessThings to RememberItem 35: Know How to Work with Core DumpsThings to RememberItem 36: Tune Your Debugging ToolsThings to RememberItem 37: Know How to View Assembly Code and Raw MemoryThings to Remember
5. Programming Techniques
Item 38: Review and Manually Execute Suspect CodeThings to RememberItem 39: Go Over Your Code and Reasoning with a ColleagueThings to RememberItem 40: Add Debugging FunctionalityThings to RememberItem 41: Add Logging StatementsThings to RememberItem 42: Use Unit TestsThings to RememberItem 43: Use AssertionsThings to RememberItem 44: Verify Your Reasoning by Perturbing the Debugged ProgramThings to RememberItem 45: Minimize the Differences between a Working Example and the Failing CodeThings to RememberItem 46: Simplify the Suspect CodeThings to RememberItem 47: Consider Rewriting the Suspect Code in Another LanguageThings to RememberItem 48: Improve the Suspect Code’s Readability and StructureThings to RememberItem 49: Fix the Bug’s Cause, Rather Than Its SymptomThings to Remember
6. Compile-Time Techniques
Item 50: Examine Generated CodeThings to RememberItem 51: Use Static Program AnalysisThings to RememberItem 52: Configure Deterministic Builds and ExecutionsThings to RememberItem 53: Configure the Use of Debugging Libraries and ChecksThings to Remember
7. Runtime Techniques
Item 54: Find the Fault by Constructing a Test CaseThings to RememberItem 55: Fail FastThings to RememberItem 56: Examine Application Log FilesThings to RememberItem 57: Profile the Operation of Systems and ProcessesThings to RememberItem 58: Trace the Code’s ExecutionThings to RememberItem 59: Use Dynamic Program Analysis ToolsThings to Remember
8. Debugging Multi-threaded Code
Item 60: Analyze Deadlocks with Postmortem DebuggingThings to RememberItem 61: Capture and ReplicateThings to RememberItem 62: Uncover Deadlocks and Race Conditions with Specialized ToolsThings to RememberItem 63: Isolate and Remove NondeterminismThings to RememberItem 64: Investigate Scalability Issues by Looking at ContentionThings to RememberItem 65: Locate False Sharing by Using Performance CountersThings to RememberItem 66: Consider Rewriting the Code Using Higher-Level AbstractionsThings to Remember
Web Resources
Index
Code Snippets

Content preview from Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems

6. Compile-Time Techniques

The transformation of the source code into bytes that will be executed by the CPU or an abstract virtual machine, such as the JVM, offers you ample opportunities to see what’s going on and affect the outcome. Both activities can help you zoom in on the fault you’re trying to locate.

Item 50: Examine Generated Code

Code often gets compiled through a series of transformations from one form to another until it finally reaches the form of the processor’s instructions. For example, a C or C++ file may first get preprocessed, then compiled into assembly language, which is then assembled into an object file; Java programs are compiled into JVM instructions; lexical and parser generation tools, such as lex, flex, yacc, and ...

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Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems

by Diomidis Spinellis