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Debugging Applications for Microsoft� .NET and Microsoft Windows� (Pro-Developer)

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4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the predecessor volume of Debugging Applications for Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows, which dealt with Visual Basic 6, John Robbins broke new ground by codifying the techniques and strategies involved in debugging Microsoft Windows applications. In this tremendously revised and much longer version (in keeping with Microsoft's substantial shift to the .NET architecture), Robbins achieves great progress in making a proper professional discipline out of debugging--and in showing how to design software to keep bugs from appearing in the first place.

The greatest value of Robbins' work is in his treatment of bugs' origins in flawed software design and their later manifestation in faulty coding practice. He explains in great detail, for example, how to use assertions (in concert with error handling) to keep bad data from getting into software modules and causing trouble. This coverage is why your development team should read this book before getting too far down the development path.

If you're already done with your software system and just can't make it work right (and, naturally, the Deadline of Death is looming), this book offers hope as well. Want to write a method that you invoke manually only when the program is at a breakpoint in the debugger? This book shows how. Need lots of details on how to add assembly-language code to your Visual C++ .NET software? You'll find them here. There's a lot of information about how debuggers do their work in general, too. To put it concisely, this book contains a career's worth of information on how to keep bugs to a minimum and track them down when they occur. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to design Microsoft Windows software to minimize design flaws, implement designs with as few software errors as possible, and use diagnostic tools and techniques to squash bugs that make it into your systems. All the latest Visual Studio .NET tools get attention, as do techniques for getting the most out of those tools. Specific coverage goes to strategies for fixing thread deadlock problems, resolving memory troubles, and reading Dr. Watson dumps.

Product Description

Learn lethally effective, real-world debugging techniques for Microsoft Windows operating system-based applications. This classic book has been updated with all-new coverage of .NET application debugging tools, techniques, and scenarios.

Product Details

Paperback: 848 pages
Publisher: Microsoft Press (April 23, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0735615365
ISBN-13: 978-0735615366
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 2.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #322,696 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#19 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > Debugging
#73 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Development > .NET
#81 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Testing

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	40% buy the item featured on this page: Debugging Applications for Microsoft� .NET and Microsoft Windows� (Pro-Developer) 4.7 out of 5 stars (11)
	27% buy Debugging Microsoft .NET 2.0 Applications 4.3 out of 5 stars (6) $31.49
	17% buy Advanced Windows Debugging 4.9 out of 5 stars (22) $35.54
	11% buy Windows� Internals: Including Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, Fifth Edition (PRO-Developer) 5.0 out of 5 stars (8) $44.09

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Customer Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Leave Home Without It, April 12, 2003

By	O. Durojaiye "dev1zero" (Bothell, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being John Robbin's greatest fan, I have been monitoring the release of this book right after it appeared on amazon. Once It hit the market for real, I got a copy via express delivery and I have to say it's worth the wait. I haven't actually read the whole think yet but its very impressive so far.

John walks the reader through debugging without tears. This edition of the book does contain a lot more information and is very current (a little too current cos all the binaries were built with VS .NET 2003 which is not in the market at this time.
However, this didn't hinder me since I have a copy of the RC. The first part of the book covers coding practices that will reduce the need to debug in the first place. The other parts of the book go into the dirty details of going after bugs with full confidence. From native win32 to managed code to multithreading; its all here.

If you're tired of scratching your head even when you have a debugger in front of you, stop reading my review and get yourself a copy of this book right away.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful discussion of Windows debugging practices, January 7, 2005

By	Brent A. Thale (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book brings a vast amount of Windows-specific debugging information together in one place and has been very helpful to me. Some of this info could be found elsewhere, but only by sorting through dozens of documentation pages and magazine articles, some many years old, and additionally the author adds value by giving very explicit instructions (even providing source code) on how to do things that are often only hinted at in the Microsoft documentation.

Most useful to me were the symbol-server tips, the SuperAssert macro and seeing how it does it what it does, crash handling in general, and the author's insight into why certain things are so slow (like OutputDebugString).

This book does have a not-so-subtle anti-C++ bias, there are little digs at C++ coding techniques throughout the book, which seem a little antiquated and inappropriate in 2005.

In the chapter on the debug C-runtime, I'm really surprised the author does not suggest writing a leak-detection system that captures the callstack at the time of allocation, I've found the C-runtime's file-and-line-oriented leak report fairly useless since the allocation is often deep inside some container class, you really need to know what code caused the allocation, not what code actually did the allocation. And the recommended feature that walks the entire heap every N allocations is unusable (it's too slow) in a large C++ program which might have many thousands of allocations. Also, redefining C++ keywords as suggested seems so evil, there are better ways of doing this.

I believe Windows XP Service Pack 2 changed some Windows internals that affect crash handling/debugging/stack walking, I wouldn't mind seeing an updated volume that covers these changes in detail.

Overall though, an excellent book, the most useful debugging book I've found so far.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow this is good, September 14, 2003

By	William G. Ryan "Uber Book Nerd" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well, that guy that wrote the review before me says he's Robbins's greatest fan. Well, after reading this book, I'd like to claim that distinction for myself.

This was an eye opener from start to finish and a MUST HAVE for any professional developer, even if you aren't using .NET.

Like everything else from Wintellect, this book is superb.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great stuff
As the title says, it covers both debugging applications for Windows and .NET. That is alot of ground to cover and the book still manages to get it all in and keep it interesting... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Demetrius Tsitrelis

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic
One of the best technical books I ever read.
This book is very enjoyable, well seasoned with humor, and definitely teaching a lot about debugging applications in windows... Read more

Published on October 26, 2007 by Paz Offer

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive guide to Windows debugging
I have bought all of John's books. He is the guy Microsoft calls when they can't solve a problem. On top of that he has a great writing style, is easy to understand, and has some... Read more

Published on March 8, 2006 by Michael A. Daniels

5.0 out of 5 stars Good sequel, hope to see the next one too
I'm writing this to thank that guy who posted the table of contents in an effort to show how this book is the same as John Robbins' prior - since that is what convinced me to buy... Read more

Published on September 18, 2004 by Zarko Berberski

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well done book!
This book is a book for the advanced programmer who says "I already know how to build a halfway decent windows app, how do I take my debugging to the next level and deliver... Read more

Published on May 7, 2004 by G. Harris

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, must read for every Windows developer
This book contains a lot of useful information not only about debugging Windows and .NET applications, but also about real-life problems, scenarios and solutions. Read more

Published on December 31, 2003 by alexeyd

5.0 out of 5 stars Twice the fun of the original
The original was a gem, and I used it extensively, but the code and tools that came with that version are now out of date. The . Read more

Published on December 1, 2003 by supersparky

2.0 out of 5 stars Below the belt...
I bought this book to get a complete knowledge of the .NET framework debugging and got nothing. May be the . Read more

Published on September 23, 2003 by Paul Selormey

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