Windows Developer Power Tools

15.14 For More Information

Troubleshooting is a difficult domain, but there’s a wealth of material to help you out.

General books on debugging or otherwise troubleshooting software include the following:

• The Practice of Programming, by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike (Addison-Wesley)

• Code Complete, Second Edition, by Steve McConnell (Microsoft Press)

• Writing Solid Code: Microsoft’s Techniques for Developing Bug-Free C Programs, by Steve Maguire (Microsoft Press)

• Find the Bug: A Book of Incorrect Programs, by Adam Barr (Addison-Wesley)

• Debugging: The Nine Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems, by David J. Agans (American Management Association)

You’ll find the companion site to David Agans’s book at:

• http://www.debuggingrules.com

Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson also run a companion site for their great PC hardware books. The site includes several forums for troubleshooting software and operating system issues that are populated by smart troubleshooters with a lot of experience:

• http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi

Here are some other useful web sites and blogs:

• Dr. Dobb’s online site includes a portal specific to testing and debugging at http://www.ddj.com/dept/debug/.

• Mike Stall has a blog on .NET debugging at http://blogs.msdn.com/jmstall/default.aspx.

• The forums at the Sysinternals web site offer amazing help for any number of issues, particularly using their tools to help isolate problems: http://forum.sysinternals.com ...