A Guide to Systematic Debugging To order this title, and for more information, click here Second Edition
By Andreas Zeller, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Description
This book is proof that debugging has graduated from a black art to a systematic discipline. It demystifies one of the toughest aspects
of software programming, showing clearly how to discover what caused software failures, and fix them with minimal muss and fuss.
The fully updated second edition includes 100+ pages of new material, including new chapters on Verifying Code, Predicting Errors,
and Preventing Errors. Cutting-edge tools such as FindBUGS and AGITAR are explained, techniques from integrated environments like Jazz.net
are highlighted, and all-new demos with ESC/Java and Spec#, Eclipse and Mozilla are included.
This complete and pragmatic overview
of debugging is authored by Andreas Zeller, the talented researcher who developed the GNU Data Display Debugger(DDD), a tool that over
250,000 professionals use to visualize the data structures of programs while they are running. Unlike other books on debugging, Zeller's
text is product agnostic, appropriate for all programming languages and skill levels.
The book explains best practices ranging
from systematically tracking error reports, to observing symptoms, reproducing errors, and correcting defects. It covers a wide range
of tools and techniques from hands-on observation to fully automated diagnoses, and also explores the author's innovative techniques
for isolating minimal input to reproduce an error and for tracking cause and effect through a program. It even includes instructions
on how to create automated debugging tools.
The text includes exercises and extensive references for further study, and a companion
website with source code for all examples and additional debugging resources is available.
Audience
Computer programmers, software developers, analysts and testers
Contents 1 How Failures Come to Be
1.1 My Program Does Not Work!
1.2 From Defects to Failures
1.3 Lost in Time and Space
1.4 From Failures
to Fixes
1.5 Automated Debugging Techniques
1.6 Bugs, Faults, or Defects?
1.7 Concepts
1.8 Tools
1.9 Further Reading
1.10 Exercises
2 Tracking Problems
2.1 Oh! All These Problems
2.2 Reporting Problems
2.3 Managing Problems
2.4 Classifying Problems
2.5 Processing
Problems
2.6 Managing Problem Tracking
2.7 Requirements as Problems
2.8 Managing Duplicates
2.9 Relating Problems and Fixes
2.10
Relating Problems and Tests
2.11 Concepts
2.12 Tools
2.13 Further Reading
2.14 Exercises
3 Making Programs Fail
3.1 Testing for
Debugging
3.2 Controlling the Program
3.3 Testing at the Presentation Layer
3.4 Testing at the Functionality Layer
3.5 Testing at
the Unit Layer
3.6 Isolating Units
3.7 Designing for Debugging 7
3.8 Preventing Unknown Problems
3.9 Concepts
3.10 Tools
3.11
Further Reading
3.12 Exercises
4 Reproducing Problems
4.1 The First Task in Debugging
4.2 Reproducing the Problem Environment
4.3 Reproducing Program Execution
4.4 Reproducing System Interaction
4.5 Focusing on Units
4.6 Concepts
4.7 Tools
4.8 Further
Reading
4.9 Exercises
5 Simplifying Problems
5.1 Simplifying the Problem
5.2 The Gecko BugAThon
5.3 Manual Simplification
5.4 Automatic Simplification
5.5 A Simplification Algorithm
5.6 Simplifying User Interaction
5.7 Random Input Simplified
5.8 Simplifying Faster
5.9 Concepts
5.10 Tools
5.11 Further Reading
5.12 Exercises
6 Scientific Debugging
6.1 How to
Become a Debugging Guru
6.2 The Scientific Method
6.3 Applying the Scientific Method
6.4 Explicit Debugging
6.5 Keeping
a Logbook
6.6 Debugging Quick-and-Dirty
6.7 Algorithmic Debugging
6.8 Deriving a Hypothesis
6.9 Reasoning About Programs
6.10
Concepts
6.11 Further Reading
6.12 Exercises
7 Deducing Errors
7.1 Isolating Value Origins
7.2 Understanding Control Flow
7.3
Tracking Dependences
7.4 Slicing Programs
7.5 Deducing Code Smells
7.6 Limits of Static Analysis
7.7 Concepts
7.8 Tools
7.9 Further
Reading
7.10 Exercises
8 Observing Facts
8.1 Observing State
8.2 Logging Execution
8.3 Using Debuggers
8.4 Querying Events
8.5 Visualizing State
8.6 Concepts
8.7 Tools
8.8 Further Reading
8.9 Exercises
9 Tracking Origins
9.1 Reasoning Backwards
9.2 Exploring Execution History
9.3 Dynamic Slicing
9.4 Leveraging Origins
9.5 Tracking Down Infections
9.6 Concepts
9.7 Tools
9.8 Further Reading
9.9 Exercises
10 Asserting Expectations
10.1 Automating Observation
10.2 Basic Assertions
10.3 Asserting
Invariants
10.4 Asserting Correctness
10.5 Assertions as Specifications
10.6 From Assertions to Verification
10.7 Reference
Runs
10.8 System Assertions
10.9 Checking Production Code
10.10 Concepts
10.11 Tools
10.12 Further Reading
10.13 Exercises
11 Detecting Anomalies
11.1 Capturing Normal Behavior
11.2 Comparing Coverage
11.3 Statistical Debugging
11.4 Collecting Data
in the Field
11.5 Dynamic Invariants
11.6 Invariants on the Fly
11.7 From Anomalies to Defects
11.8 Concepts
11.9 Tools
11.10 Further
Reading
11.11 Exercises
12 Causes and Effects
12.1 Causes and Alternate Worlds
12.2 Verifying Causes
12.3 Causality in Practice
12.4 Finding Actual Causes
12.5 Narrowing Down Causes
12.6 A Narrowing Example
12.7 The Common Context
12.8 Causes in Debugging
12.9 Concepts
12.10 Further Reading
12.11 Exercises
13 Isolating Failure Causes
13.1 Isolating Causes Automatically
13.2 Isolating
versus Simplifying
13.3 An Isolation Algorithm
13.4 Implementing Isolation
13.5 Isolating Failure-inducing Input
13.6 Isolating
Failure-inducing Schedules
13.7 Isolating Failure-inducing Changes
13.8 Problems and Limitations
13.9 Concepts
13.10 Tools
13.11
Further Reading
13.12 Exercises
14 Isolating Cause-Effect Chains
14.1 Useless Causes
14.2 Capturing Program States
14.3
Comparing Program States
14.4 Isolating Relevant Program States
14.5 Isolating Cause-Effect Chains
14.6 Isolating Failure-inducing
Code
14.7 Issues and Risks
14.8 Concepts
14.9 Tools
14.10 Further Reading
14.11 Exercises
15 Fixing the Defect
15.1 Locating
the Defect
15.2 Focusing on the Most Likely Errors
15.3 Validating the Defect
15.4 Correcting the Defect
15.5 Workarounds
15.6
Learning from Mistakes
15.7 Concepts
15.8 Further Reading
15.9 Exercises
Appendix: Formal Definitions
A.1 Delta Debugging
A.2 Memory Graphs
A.3 Cause-Effect Chains
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