For today's programmers, it is impossible to foresee every input, every usage scenario, and every combination of applications that can cause errors when run simultaneously. Given all of these unknowns, writing absolutely bug-free code is unachievable. But it is possible, with the right knowledge, to produce nearly bug-free code and The Debugger's Handbook provides just the right guidance to do it.Focused on the best practices for writing code as well as on the methods to perform more effective debugging, DiMarzio promotes a natural debugging approach to writing code. He begins by examining and concretely defining just what a bug is, what circumstances are more prone to producing bugs, and how to avoid them from the start. Rather than focusing on techniques for a specific programming language, this book offers guidance on the basic philosophies and practices that can minimize the appearance of bugs in any language. Extensive use of examples-with sample code given in VB, VB .NET, C++, and Java-reinforce a practical understanding of the concepts and offer ample opportunity to put them to use.Working systematically through the programming steps encountered in practice, The Debugger's Handbook is the most versatile and practical guide available for minimizing errors, decreasing development time and costs, and making you a better programmer.

About the Author

xi

Acknowledgments

xiii

Preface

xv

Introduction

xvii

1 Bugs: Fact or Fiction?

1

(30)

The History of Bugs

8

(4)

The Rise of the Modern Programmer

12

(6)

Killing Bugs Is Just a Game

15

(3)

Dissecting a Bug: Definition

18

(10)

Fully Realized Code

22

(3)

Code Follow-Through: Tracing

25

(2)

Syntactically Incorrect Code

27

(1)

Review Questions

28

(1)

Looking Ahead

28

(3)

Avoiding Bugs

28

(3)

2 Writing Bug-Free Code Part I: The Design Process

31

(14)

Planning Your Bug-Free Project

32

(12)

Define the Purpose

34

(3)

Identify the Flow of the Application

37

(3)

Identify Internal and External Components

40

(3)

Account Application: Internal and External Components

42

(1)

Create a Realistic Timeline

43

(1)

Review Questions

44

(1)

Looking Ahead

44

(1)

3 Bug-Free Code Part II: The Coding Process

45

(44)

It Is All in the Comments

46

(2)

Comment Characters of Multiple Languages

48

(1)

Introductory Comments

49

(14)

In-Code Comments

56

(7)

Using .NET Regions

63

(13)

Coding Standards

76

(5)

Older Standards

77

(1)

The New Standards

78

(3)

Functions, Subroutines, and Methods

81

(5)

Hardcoding Values

81

(5)

Reusable Code

86

(1)

Review Questions

87

(1)

Looking Ahead

88

(1)

4 Throwing Custom Exceptions

89

(36)

Unstructured Error Handling

90

(23)

Structured Error Handling

113

(7)

Throwing Custom Errors

120

(2)

Review Questions

122

(1)

Looking Ahead

123

(2)

5 Design Time Debugging

125

(36)

Benefits of Removing Bugs at Design Time

126

(2)

Debugging in Visual Studio 2003

128

(12)

Build Errors

131

(6)

Debug Mode

137

(3)

Visual Basic Debug Mode Editing

140

(20)

Debug Windows

142

(1)

Breakpoints

142

(2)

Watch

144

(4)

Command Window/Immediate Window

148

(2)

Modules

150

(1)

Compiler-Generated Errors

150

(10)

Review Questions

160

(1)

Looking Ahead

160

(1)

6 Debugging and Visual Studio 2005

161

(54)

Debugging with the New Features in Visual Studio 2005

161

(10)

Tracepoints

162

(9)

Design Time Debugging

171

(26)

Debug Mode Code Editing

176

(10)

Edit Tracking

186

(5)

Projects and Solutions

191

(3)

Text Editor

194

(1)

Database Tools

195

(2)

Debugging

197

(17)

Snippet Manager

200

(10)

Exception Assistant

210

(1)

Unused Variable Notification

211

(3)

Review Questions

214

(1)

Looking Ahead

214

(1)

7 Testing

215

(20)

When Is It Time to Test?

216

(7)

Setting Up the Test Environment

223

(7)

Choosing the Test Team

230

(3)

Finding Bugs

233

(1)

Review Questions

234

(1)

Looking Ahead

234

(1)

8 Commenting Your Code with XML

235

(8)

XML Tags

236

(6)

Review Questions

242

(1)

Looking Ahead

242

(1)

9 Real-World Scenarios: Opening Files

243

(16)

Opening Files

245

(1)

Executing the Close Method in the Wrong Place

246

(3)

Other Syntactical/File Navigation Errors

249

(10)

10 Real-World Scenarios: Reading Files

259

(18)

Opening a File as the Incorrect Type

259

(18)

Append

260

(1)

Input

260

(1)

Output

260

(1)

Random

260

(17)

11 Real-World Scenarios: Saving Program Settings

277

(8)

Reading from the App.config Incorrectly

277

(8)

12 Real-World Scenarios: Working with Objects

285

(14)

Not Defining the Object Correctly

286

(7)

Not Being Able to See an Object from All Forms

293

(6)

13 Real-World Scenarios: Editing the Registry

299

(6)

Using SaveSetting and GetSetting

300

(5)

14 Real-World Scenarios: Window's Termination Functionality

305

(12)

15 Real-World Scenarios: Opening a Database

317

(50)

Passing String Credentials

318

(20)

Obtaining Connection Settings from a .udl File

338

(12)

Using ODBC Connections

350

(8)

Closing a Database

358

(9)

16 Real-World Scenarios: Reading a Database

367

(18)

Using a DataReader

367

(18)

17 Real-World Scenarios: Searching a Database

385

(64)

Querying Tables

386

(20)

Using Stored Procedures

406

(43)

Index

449

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