Effective Debugging

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--> <p style="margin:0px;"></p> <p style="margin:0px;">Figures xi</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Listings xiii</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Preface xv</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Acknowledgments xxiii</p> <p style="margin:0px;">About the Author xxviii</p> <p style="margin:0px;"></p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 1: High-Level Strategies 1</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 1: Handle All Problems through an Issue-Tracking System 1</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 2: Use Focused Queries to Search the Web for Insights into Your Problem 3</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 3: Confirm That Preconditions and Postconditions Are Satisfied 5</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 4: Drill Up from the Problem to the Bug or Down from the Program’s Start to the Bug 7</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 5: Find the Difference between a Known Good System and a Failing One 9</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 6: Use the Software’s Debugging Facilities 12</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 7: Diversify Your Build and Execution Environment 17</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 8: Focus Your Work on the Most Important Problems 20</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 2: General-Purpose Methods and Practices 23</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 9: Set Yourself Up for Debugging Success 23</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 10: Enable the Efficient Reproduction of the Problem 25</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 11: Minimize the Turnaround Time from Your Changes to Their Result 28</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 12: Automate Complex Testing Scenarios 29</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 13: Enable a Comprehensive Overview of Your Debugging Data 32</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 14: Consider Updating Your Software 33</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 15: Consult Third-Party Source Code for Insights on Its Use 34</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 16: Use Specialized Monitoring and Test Equipment 36</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 17: Increase the Prominence of a Failure’s Effects 40</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 18: Enable the Debugging of Unwieldy Systems from Your Desk 42</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 19: Automate Debugging Tasks 44</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 20: Houseclean Before and After Debugging 45</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 21: Fix All Instances of a Problem Class 46</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 3: General-Purpose Tools and Techniques 49</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 22: Analyze Debug Data with Unix Command-Line Tools 49</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 23: Utilize Command-Line Tool Options and Idioms 55</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 24: Explore Debug Data with Your Editor 57</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 25: Optimize Your Work Environment 59</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 26: Hunt the Causes and History of Bugs with the Revision Control System 64</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 27: Use Monitoring Tools on Systems Composed of Independent Processes 67</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 4: Debugger Techniques 71</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 28: Use Code Compiled for Symbolic Debugging 71</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 29: Step through the Code 76</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 30: Use Code and Data Breakpoints 77</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 31: Familiarize Yourself with Reverse Debugging 80</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 32: Navigate along the Calls between Routines 82</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 33: Look for Errors by Examining the Values of Variables and Expressions 84</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 34: Know How to Attach a Debugger to a Running Process 87</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 35: Know How to Work with Core Dumps 89</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 36: Tune Your Debugging Tools 92</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 37: Know How to View Assembly Code and Raw Memory 95</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 5: Programming Techniques 101</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 38: Review and Manually Execute Suspect Code 101</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 39: Go Over Your Code and Reasoning with a Colleague 103</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 40: Add Debugging Functionality 104</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 41: Add Logging Statements 108</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 42: Use Unit Tests 112</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 43: Use Assertions 116</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 44: Verify Your Reasoning by Perturbing the Debugged Program 119</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 45: Minimize the Differences between a Working Example and the Failing Code 120</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 46: Simplify the Suspect Code 121</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 47: Consider Rewriting the Suspect Code in Another Language 124</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 48: Improve the Suspect Code’s Readability and Structure 126</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 49: Fix the Bug’s Cause, Rather Than Its Symptom 129</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 6: Compile-Time Techniques 133</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 50: Examine Generated Code 133</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 51: Use Static Program Analysis 136</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 52: Configure Deterministic Builds and Executions 141</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 53: Configure the Use of Debugging Libraries and Checks 143</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 7: Runtime Techniques 149</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 54: Find the Fault by Constructing a Test Case 149</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 55: Fail Fast 153</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 56: Examine Application Log Files 154</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 57: Profile the Operation of Systems and Processes 158</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 58: Trace the Code’s Execution 162</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 59: Use Dynamic Program Analysis Tools 168</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Chapter 8: Debugging Multi-threaded Code 171</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 60: Analyze Deadlocks with Postmortem Debugging 171</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 61: Capture and Replicate 178</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 62: Uncover Deadlocks and Race Conditions with Specialized Tools 183</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 63: Isolate and Remove Nondeterminism 188</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 64: Investigate Scalability Issues by Looking at Contention 190</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 65: Locate False Sharing by Using Performance Counters 193</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Item 66: Consider Rewriting the Code Using Higher-Level Abstractions 197</p> <p style="margin:0px;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0px;"></p> <p style="margin:0px;">Web Resources 207</p> <p style="margin:0px;">Index 211</p> <p style="margin:0px;"></p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <![endif]-->