Java Glossary : debugging

Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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debugging

Dedugging means finding and fixing the flaws in computer programs. It is fun and challenging. I suspect some programmers are deliberately sloppy so they will have more fun in the debugging stage, however, the best way to debug a program is to write it so carefully that no bugs creep in the first place.

If you have a lot of bugs, that is a good sign there will be many more you have not found.

Hints

Document variables not code. Don't be afraid to write a paragraph about each variable and how and where it is used, and what its expected values are. This is invaluable information for discovering anomalies.

Pepper your code with assertions, either formal JDK 1.4 ones or simple one like this:

if ( Config.DEBUG )
   {
   if ( ! ( smallestAllowable <= whatItIs && whatItIs <= largestAllowable ) )
      {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException ( "bad range: "
                                           + smallestAllowable
                                           + " <= "
                                           + whatItIs
                                           + " <= "
                                           + largestAllowable
                                         );
      }
   }

When you get desperate you can single step via tracing. That link shows you how to get a stack trace without raising an Exception.

debugger ¤ Ozibug ¤ tracing

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