book

Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems

by Diomidis Spinellis

June 2016

Intermediate to advanced

240 pages

7h 27m

English

Addison-Wesley Professional

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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

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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