Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition

Debugging PL/SQL Programs

When you test a program, you find errors in your code. When you debug a program, you uncover the cause of an error and fix it. These are two very different processes, and should not be confused. Once a program is tested and bugs are uncovered, it is certainly the responsibility of the developer to fix those bugs. And so the debugging begins!

Many programmers find that debugging is by far the hardest part of programming. This difficulty often arises from the following factors:

Lack of understanding of the problem being solved by the program

Most programmers like to code. They tend to not like reading and understanding specifications, and will sometimes forgo this step so that they can quickly get down to writing code. The chance of a program meeting its requirements under these conditions is slim at best.

Poor programming practice

Programs that are hard to read (lack of documentation, too much documentation, inconsistent use of whitespace, bad choices for identifier names, etc.), programs that are not properly modularized, and programs that try to be too clever present a much greater challenge to debug than programs that are well designed and structured.

The program simply contains too many errors

Without the proper analysis and coding skills, you can end up with many more errors than are necessary. When you compile a program and get back five screens of compile errors, do you just want to scream and hide? It is easy to be so overwhelmed by your errors that ...