The Developer’s Guide to Debugging Thorsten Grotker¨ · Ulrich Holtmann Holger Keding · Markus Wloka The Developer’s Guide to Debugging 123 Thorsten Gr¨otker Ulrich Holtmann Holger Keding Markus Wloka Internet: http://www.debugging-guide.com Email:
[email protected] ISBN: 978-1-4020-5539-3 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-5540-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008929566 c 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 987654321 springer.com Foreword Of all activities in software development, debugging is probably the one that is hated most. It is guilt-ridden because a technical failure suggests personal fail- ure; because it points the finger at us showing us that we have been wrong. It is time-consuming because we have to rethink every single assumption, every single step from requirements to implementation. Its worst feature though may be that it is unpredictable: You never know how much time it will take you to fix a bug - and whether you’ll be able to fix it at all. Ask a developer for the worst moments in life, and many of them will be related to debugging. It may be 11pm, you’re still working on it, you are just stepping through the program, and that’s when your spouse calls you and asks you when you’ll finally, finally get home, and you try to end the call as soon as possible as you’re losing grip on the carefully memorized observations and deductions.