Synopses & Reviews
Review
IEEE Software magazine: "Unlike most books about debugging, this book isn't a technical manual. It's easy to follow and logical in approach and progression. The author elegantly presents the concepts and makes the debugging task unintimidating but, at the same time, points out that the major task is learning to apply his rules. Debugging not only makes the subject area easy to understand; it's an excellent example of how you can present the art of debugging in a way that's meaningful and exciting. This book should be required reading for all technology college students. It explains the logic you need in the real world, logic that so many students don't learn before graduation. After reading this book, I got excited about debugging and went out to look for something to test the ninerule approach on.""
Slashdot.com, David A. Wheeler: “It's not often you find a classic, but I think I've found a new classic for software and computer hardware developers. It's David J. Agan's Debugging….It's hard to bottle experience; this book does a good job. This is a book I expect to find useful many, many, years from now….I think this is a great book….Novices need to learn the fundamentals, and pros need occasional reminders of them; this book is a good way to learn or be reminded of them. Get this book.”"
Synopsis
"When the pressure is on to root out an elusive software or hardware glitch, what’s needed is a cool head courtesy of a set of rules guaranteed to work on any system, in any circumstance. Written in a frank but engaging style, Debuggingprovides simple, foolproof principles guaranteed to help find any bug quickly. This book makes those shelves of application-specific debugging books (on C++, Perl, Java, etc.) obsolete. It changes the way readers think about debugging, making those pesky problems suddenly much easier to find and fix.
Illustrating the rules with real-life bug-detection war stories, the book shows readers how to:
* Understand the system: how perceiving the ""roadmap"" can hasten your journey
* Quit thinking and look: when hands-on investigation can’t be avoided
* Isolate critical factors: why changing one element at a time can be an essential tool
* Keep an audit trail: how keeping a record of the debugging process can win the day"
Synopsis
The rules of battle for tracking down -- and eliminating -- hardware and software bugs. When the pressure is on to root out an elusive software or hardware glitch, what's needed is a cool head courtesy of a set of rules guaranteed to work on any system, in any circumstance. Written in a frank but engaging style, Debugging provides simple, foolproof principles guaranteed to help find any bug quickly. This book makes those shelves of application-specific debugging books (on C++, Perl, Java, etc.) obsolete. It changes the way readers think about debugging, making those pesky problems suddenly much easier to find and fix. Illustrating the rules with real-life bug-detection war stories, the book shows readers how to: * Understand the system: how perceiving the ""roadmap"" can hasten your journey * Quit thinking and look: when hands-on investigation can't be avoided * Isolate critical factors: why changing one element at a time can be an essential tool * Keep an audit trail: how keeping a record of the debugging process can win the day"
About the Author
David J. Agans (Milford, NH) is a recognized expert called in to help with tough debugging problems. He currently runs PointSource, a computer systems consultancy. He has worked with industrial control and monitoring systems, integrated circuit design, handheld PCs, videoconferencing, and countless other systems.
Table of Contents
"Chapter 1: How Can That Work?
Chapter 2: The Rules -- Suitable for Framing
Chapter 3: Understand The System
Chapter 4: Make It Fail
Chapter 5: Quit Thinking and Look
Chapter 6: Divide and Conquer
Chapter 7: Change One Thing At A Time
Chapter 8: Keep An Audit Trail
Chapter 9: Check The Plug
Chapter 10: Get A Fresh View
Chapter 11: If You Didn’t Fix It, It Ain’t Fixed
Chapter 12: All The Rules In One Story
Chapter 13: Easy Exercises For The Reader
Chapter 14: The View From The HelpDesk
Chapter 15: The Bottom Line"