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The Art of Debugging with GDB, DDD, & Eclipse
Debugging is crucial to successful software development, but
even many experienced programmers find it challenging.
Sophisticated debugging tools are available, yet it may be
difficult to determine which features are useful in which
situations. The Art of Debugging is your guide to making the
debugging process more efficient
and effective.
The Art of Debugging illustrates the use three of the most
popular debugging tools on Linux/Unix platforms: GDB, DDD,
and Eclipse. The text-command based GDB (the GNU Project
Debugger) is included with most distributions. DDD is a
popular GUI front end for GDB, while Eclipse provides a
complete integrated development environment.
In addition to offering specific advice for debugging with
each tool, authors Norm Matloff and Pete Salzman cover
general strategies for improving the process of finding and
fixing coding errors, including how to:
Inspect variables and data structures
Understand segmentation faults and core dumps
Know why your program crashes or throws exceptions
Use features like catchpoints, convenience variables, and
artificial arrays
Avoid common debugging pitfalls
Real world examples of coding errors help to clarify the
authors' guiding principles, and coverage of complex topics
like thread, client-server, GUI, and parallel programming
debugging will make you even more proficient. You'll also
learn how to prevent errors in the first place with text
editors, compilers, error reporting, and static code
checkers.
Whether you dread the thought of debugging your programs or
simply want to improve your current debugging efforts,
you'll find a valuable ally in The Art of Debugging.
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