Advanced Debugging Methods (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science) [Hardcover]

Raimondas Lencevicius (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0792378954 | ISBN-13: 978-0792378952 | Edition: 1

Object relationships in modern software systems are becoming increasingly numerous and complex, and program errors due to violations of object relationships are difficult to detect. Programmers need new tools that allow them to explore objects in a large system more efficiently and to detect broken object relationships instantaneously. Such tools incorporate approaches used in such areas as data visualization, pattern matching and extraction, database querying, active databases, and rule-based programming. The query-based debugging approach developed by the author of this book is another powerful yet efficient tool to be added to the developer's tool chest. Advanced Debugging Methods presents practice and tools for debugging computer programs. This book proposes new powerful approaches that simplify the daunting task of debugging complex software systems. Although debugging has been addressed in numerous research papers, many of its methods have yet to be explored in a book-length format. This book helps to fill this gap by presenting an overview of existing debugging tools with motivating examples and case studies, as well as presenting new, state-of-the-art debugging methods. Advanced Debugging Methods will be of use to software developers looking for tools to be applied in cutting edge practice; system architects looking at the relationship between software design and debugging; tools and programming language researchers looking for new ideas in run-time tool implementation as well as detailed descriptions of advanced implementations; and university professors and graduate students who will use this book as supplementary reading for graduate courses in programming tools, language implementation, and advanced object-oriented systems. Advanced Debugging Methods is also a handy reference of currently existing debugging methodologies as well as a springboard for cutting-edge research to simplify the difficult task of debugging and to facilitate the development of more robust software systems.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (August 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792378954
• ISBN-13: 978-0792378952
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,501,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, August 20, 2003

By 

Paul Mclachlan (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Debugging Methods (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science) (Hardcover)

I'm disappointed because the book doesn't live up to it's description / summary. It's rare enough that you won't find it in a store to browse, though, so I'll tell you a bit about it.

We're basically looking at a Ph.D dissertation here. That is, the book has one single central "advanced debugging" idea that it explores and explains the author's implementation of. The summary made it sound like there'd be a bunch of wild ideas in here for advanced debugging tools, not just one!

The idea is to have a query language built into the debugger than the developer can use to assert invarients of some sort. So, in the query language, it could say that "all people have ages > 0 and <= 140", or something like that. And then the book goes on to talk about how the implementation only re-runs the relevant parts of the query when someone updates the 'age' field.

It was published in 2000, too - so there is some out-of-date information in there about the available java debug API's.

To be fair, the second chapter (12 pages) does summarize some advanced debugging techniques (with references), such as Program slicing, method animation, and data structure display.

So, in summary, then:

If you read the summary and think you're getting a book of ideas, you're not. Don't bother.

If you've taken it upon yourself to write a query based debugger and my description above wasn't enough to clue you in to the obvious optimizations, then go ahead and buy the book, it's mostly discussion of the implementation and usefulness of this tool.

Otherwise, have a browse through it if you happen to come across it in a bookstore (ha!). But I wouldn't recommend it's purchase - there aren't any any earth shattering revelations in there.