Software testing debugging tutorials and videos

Effective Debugging

Software Testing Magazine — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 10:02:54 +0000

Developers are always looking for ways to boost productivity. Effective debugging allows one to more quickly discover inaccuracies between our expectations and how the software actually behaves. Debugging is an art. And to be an effective artist, an artist must be intimately familiar with their tools. In this talk, we’ll start gently and finish strong to ensure that there’s something for everyone. We’ll cover when to use a debugger, which debugger to use, and how to use the debugger, and how to quickly configure your debugger for maximum utility. We’ll touch briefly on pry and why pry is not a debugger, except when it is. Video producer: http://rubyconf.org/

The post Effective Debugging first appeared on Software Testing Magazine.

Using a Debugger or a Log to Find Bugs

Software Testing Magazine — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 20:40:37 +0000

When you have a bug in your software, you cannot always just read the code to find the cause of the bug. Two techniques are used for further investigation: the debugger allow to follow the execution of the code, while writing logs allow write multiple snapshots of contexts. In this article, Henrik Warne explains why you cannot rely only on a debugger to find bugs. There are many benefits from the usage of logs in bug discovery. When the software architecture becomes complex, you need to examine the full sequence of events that leads to the problem and not only the situation when the bug is actually triggered. To use the debugger, you need to know the code. With a log, situations can always be analyzed even by non developers sometimes. Finally, it is also a good tool that you can use on a production system where it is not always possible to use a debugger. One of the main argument against logs is that they can be detrimental to the application’s performance. This can be however decreased if you code your logging statements wisely and if you have a mechanism that allows to turn off the log or to target only specific items, accounts numbers for instance, in your log. The conclusion of the article is that “There are many cases where your only option is using a debugger in order to figure out what the problem is. Even great log statements can’t cover all cases. But by using [...]

The post Using a Debugger or a Log to Find Bugs first appeared on Software Testing Magazine.

Inspect/Debug your Mobile Code with Adobe Shadow

Software Testing Magazine — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:19:53 +0000

Adobe Shadow is a new tool currently developed by Adobe that provides developers a way to inspect and debug from their desktops wirelessly and synchronously across multiple devices. The Adobe Shadow desktop application listens for changes in a URL location in the browser. When a change occurs, it pushes the new URL out to all wirelessly connected devices immediately so the changed content is seen on the devices immediately. In this blog post, Holly Schinsky provides step-by-step instructions on how to use Adobe Shadow to inspect and debug your mobile code.

The post Inspect/Debug your Mobile Code with Adobe Shadow first appeared on Software Testing Magazine.

.NET Debugging Tools

Software Testing Magazine — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:50:36 +0000

Many developers are not aware of all of the debugging features in Visual Studio, because debugging in Visual Studio “just works.” This article provides an overview of debugging features of Visual Studio that are often ignored by developers like actions in the Breakpoints window or data visualizers. It also discusses external tools and third-party tools you can add to your debugging toolkit.

The post .NET Debugging Tools first appeared on Software Testing Magazine.

Debug It!

Software Testing Magazine — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:26:19 +0000

This book “Debug It!” by Paul Butcher provides a structured approach that will help programmers to identify and remove bugs in code. It is based on a four steps process: Reproduce, Diagnose, Fix, Reflect. For each activity, the author provides practical material on how to perform it. The second part of the book presents a higher vision of the debugging process and deal with topics like communicating with users or prioritizing bugs treatment. Finally, the book discusses special situations and the relationship between bugs and other areas of software development (source control, build, etc.). The book is easy to read and the material is presented in a very structured way with different “viewpoints” that help to understand the content. Besides the main text where important concepts are put in evidence, real life cases shows how things happen in the real world. There are also some “Joe asks…” sections where the author answers pertinent questions on the current topic. With my many years of experience in supporting and debugging large existing enterprise systems, I have to say that Paul Butcher summarize and structure all the knowledge (and more) that I have, sometimes painfully, accumulated during this activity. This is therefore an excellent book that I will recommend to everybody that is involved in software development in general and maintenance activities with legacy systems specifically. Reference: “Debug It!”, Paul Butcher, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 214 pages, ISBN 978-1934356289

The post Debug It! first appeared on Software Testing Magazine.