Figures xi
Listings xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxiii
About the Author xxviii
Chapter 1: High-Level Strategies 1
Item 1: Handle All Problems through an Issue-Tracking System 1
Item 2: Use Focused Queries to Search the Web for Insights into Your Problem 3
Item 3: Confirm That Preconditions and Postconditions Are Satisfied 5
Item 4: Drill Up from the Problem to the Bug or Down from the Program's Start to the Bug 7
Item 5: Find the Difference between a Known Good System and a Failing One 9
Item 6: Use the Software's Debugging Facilities 12
Item 7: Diversify Your Build and Execution Environment 17
Item 8: Focus Your Work on the Most Important Problems 20
Chapter 2: General-Purpose Methods and Practices 23
Item 9: Set Yourself Up for Debugging Success 23
Item 10: Enable the Efficient Reproduction of the Problem 25
Item 11: Minimize the Turnaround Time from Your Changes to Their Result 28
Item 12: Automate Complex Testing Scenarios 29
Item 13: Enable a Comprehensive Overview of Your Debugging Data 32
Item 14: Consider Updating Your Software 33
Item 15: Consult Third-Party Source Code for Insights on Its Use 34
Item 16: Use Specialized Monitoring and Test Equipment 36
Item 17: Increase the Prominence of a Failure's Effects 40
Item 18: Enable the Debugging of Unwieldy Systems from Your Desk 42
Item 19: Automate Debugging Tasks 44
Item 20: Houseclean Before and After Debugging 45
Item 21: Fix All Instances of a Problem Class 46
Chapter 3: General-Purpose Tools and Techniques 49
Item 22: Analyze Debug Data with Unix Command-Line Tools 49
Item 23: Utilize Command-Line Tool Options and Idioms 55
Item 24: Explore Debug Data with Your Editor 57
Item 25: Optimize Your Work Environment 59
Item 26: Hunt the Causes and History of Bugs with the Revision Control System 64
Item 27: Use Monitoring Tools on Systems Composed of Independent Processes 67
Chapter 4: Debugger Techniques 71
Item 28: Use Code Compiled for Symbolic Debugging 71
Item 29: Step through the Code 76
Item 30: Use Code and Data Breakpoints 77
Item 31: Familiarize Yourself with Reverse Debugging 80
Item 32: Navigate along the Calls between Routines 82
Item 33: Look for Errors by Examining the Values of Variables and Expressions 84
Item 34: Know How to Attach a Debugger to a Running Process 87
Item 35: Know How to Work with Core Dumps 89
Item 36: Tune Your Debugging Tools 92
Item 37: Know How to View Assembly Code and Raw Memory 95
Chapter 5: Programming Techniques 101
Item 38: Review and Manually Execute Suspect Code 101
Item 39: Go Over Your Code and Reasoning with a Colleague 103
Item 40: Add Debugging Functionality 104
Item 41: Add Logging Statements 108
Item 42: Use Unit Tests 112
Item 43: Use Assertions 116
Item 44: Verify Your Reasoning by Perturbing the Debugged Program 119
Item 45: Minimize the Differences between a Working Example and the Failing Code 120
Item 46: Simplify the Suspect Code 121
Item 47: Consider Rewriting the Suspect Code in Another Language 124
Item 48: Improve the Suspect Code's Readability and Structure 126
Item 49: Fix the Bug's Cause, Rather Than Its Symptom 129
Chapter 6: Compile-Time Techniques 133
Item 50: Examine Generated Code 133
Item 51: Use Static Program Analysis 136
Item 52: Configure Deterministic Builds and Executions 141
Item 53: Configure the Use of Debugging Libraries and Checks 143
Chapter 7: Runtime Techniques 149
Item 54: Find the Fault by Constructing a Test Case 149
Item 55: Fail Fast 153
Item 56: Examine Application Log Files 154
Item 57: Profile the Operation of Systems and Processes 158
Item 58: Trace the Code's Execution 162
Item 59: Use Dynamic Program Analysis Tools 168
Chapter 8: Debugging Multi-threaded Code 171
Item 60: Analyze Deadlocks with Postmortem Debugging 171
Item 61: Capture and Replicate 178
Item 62: Uncover Deadlocks and Race Conditions with Specialized Tools 183
Item 63: Isolate and Remove Nondeterminism 188
Item 64: Investigate Scalability Issues by Looking at Contention 190
Item 65: Locate False Sharing by Using Performance Counters 193
Item 66: Consider Rewriting the Code Using Higher-Level Abstractions 197
Web Resources 207
Index 211
