The Debugger's Handbook

483 Pages·2007·14.77 MB·English

by  J.F. DiMarzio

The
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The
Debugger’s
Handbook
Jerome DiMarzio
Boca Raton New York
Auerbach Publications is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Auerbach Publications
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Auerbach is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
No claim to original U.S. Government works
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-8493-8034-0 (Hardcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-8493-8034-1 (Hardcover)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DiMarzio, J.F.
The debugger’s handbook / Jerome F. DiMarzio.,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-8034-0 (alk. paper)
1.Debugging in computer science. 2. Computer software--Quality control. I.
Title.
QA76.9.D43D56 2006
004.2’4--dc22 2006044272
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
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and the Auerbach Web site at
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T&F_LOC_A_Master.indd 1 6/1/06 12:33:43 PM
AU8034_book.fm Page v Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:55 AM
Dedication
This book is dedicated first and foremost to my family — to my loving
wife, Suzannah, for her love, dedication, and work, and to our children,
without whom it would be meaningless.
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AU8034_book.fm Page vii Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:55 AM
Contents
About the Author.............................................................................................xi
Acknowledgments..........................................................................................xiii
Preface.............................................................................................................xv
Introduction...................................................................................................xvii
1 Bugs: Fact or Fiction?...................................................................1
The History of Bugs.........................................................................................8
The Rise of the Modern Programmer...........................................................12
Killing Bugs Is Just a Game......................................................................15
Dissecting a Bug: Definition..........................................................................18
Fully Realized Code...................................................................................22
Code Follow-Through: Tracing.................................................................25
Syntactically Incorrect Code......................................................................27
Review Questions...........................................................................................28
Looking Ahead................................................................................................28
Avoiding Bugs............................................................................................28
2 Writing Bug-Free Code Part I: The Design Process.................31
Planning Your Bug-Free Project....................................................................32
Define the Purpose....................................................................................34
Identify the Flow of the Application........................................................37
Identify Internal and External Components............................................40
Account Application: Internal and External Components.................42
Create a Realistic Timeline........................................................................43
Review Questions...........................................................................................44
Looking Ahead................................................................................................44
3 Bug-Free Code Part II: The Coding Process.............................45
It Is All in the Comments..............................................................................46
Comment Characters of Multiple Languages................................................48
Introductory Comments..................................................................................49
In-Code Comments....................................................................................56
vii
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viii (cid:1) The Debugger's Handbook
Using .NET Regions........................................................................................63
Coding Standards............................................................................................76
Older Standards..........................................................................................77
The New Standards....................................................................................78
Functions, Subroutines, and Methods...........................................................81
Hardcoding Values.....................................................................................81
Reusable Code.................................................................................................86
Review Questions...........................................................................................87
Looking Ahead................................................................................................88
4 Throwing Custom Exceptions...................................................89
Unstructured Error Handling..........................................................................90
Structured Error Handling............................................................................113
Throwing Custom Errors..............................................................................120
Review Questions.........................................................................................122
Looking Ahead..............................................................................................123
5 Design Time Debugging...........................................................125
Benefits of Removing Bugs at Design Time..............................................126
Debugging in Visual Studio 2003................................................................128
Build Errors...............................................................................................131
Debug Mode.............................................................................................137
Visual Basic Debug Mode Editing...............................................................140
Debug Windows......................................................................................142
Breakpoints...............................................................................................142
Watch.........................................................................................................144
Command Window/Immediate Window................................................148
Modules.....................................................................................................150
Compiler-Generated Errors......................................................................150
Review Questions.........................................................................................160
Looking Ahead..............................................................................................160
6 Debugging and Visual Studio 2005.........................................161
Debugging with the New Features in Visual Studio 2005........................161
Tracepoints...............................................................................................162
Design Time Debugging..............................................................................171
Debug Mode Code Editing.....................................................................176
Edit Tracking............................................................................................186
Projects and Solutions..............................................................................191
Text Editor................................................................................................194
Database Tools.........................................................................................195
Debugging.....................................................................................................197
Snippet Manager......................................................................................200
Exception Assistant..................................................................................210
Unused Variable Notification...................................................................211
Review Questions.........................................................................................214
Looking Ahead..............................................................................................214
AU8034_book.fm Page ix Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:55 AM
Contents (cid:1) ix
7 Testing.......................................................................................215
When Is It Time to Test?..............................................................................216
Setting Up the Test Environment................................................................223
Choosing the Test Team..............................................................................230
Finding Bugs.................................................................................................233
Review Questions.........................................................................................234
Looking Ahead..............................................................................................234
8 Commenting Your Code with XML.........................................235
XML Tags.......................................................................................................236
Review Questions.........................................................................................242
Looking Ahead..............................................................................................242
9 Real-World Scenarios: Opening Files......................................243
Opening Files................................................................................................245
Executing the Close Method in the Wrong Place......................................246
Other Syntactical/File Navigation Errors.....................................................249
10 Real-World Scenarios: Reading Files.......................................259
Opening a File as the Incorrect Type........................................................259
Append.....................................................................................................260
Input..........................................................................................................260
Output.......................................................................................................260
Random.....................................................................................................260
11 Real-World Scenarios: Saving Program Settings....................277
Reading from the App.config Incorrectly..............................................277
12 Real-World Scenarios: Working with Objects........................285
Not Defining the Object Correctly..............................................................286
Not Being Able to See an Object from All Forms....................................293
13 Real-World Scenarios: Editing the Registry...........................299
Using SaveSetting and GetSetting................................................................300
14 Real-World Scenarios: Window’s Termination
Functionality.............................................................................305
15 Real-World Scenarios: Opening a Database...........................317
Passing String Credentials............................................................................318
Obtaining Connection Settings from a .udl File........................................338
Using ODBC Connections............................................................................350
Closing a Database.......................................................................................358
16 Real-World Scenarios: Reading a Database............................367
Using a DataReader......................................................................................367