Debugging

  Debugging....

 In Todays, Technologically advanced world , there are lot of IDE's available which are used by software programmers to enhance there softwares and other networking skills and services. for that there software programs needs lot of heavy testing, troubleshooting and maintenance during the development process. for that proposal debugging is used...to enhance the productivity of code and also to enhance the algorithms of it...

 

So as we all are conscious about debugging...

1) Let's firstly understand what the debugging is ?

debugging refers to identifying, analyzing and removing errors. This process begins after the software fails to execute properly and concludes by solving the problem and successfully testing the software. But, it is considered to be an extremely complex and tedious task because errors need to be resolved at all stages of debugging.

Now, Let's Understand....

2) Why do we need Debugging ?

The process of debugging begins as soon as the code of the software is written. Then, it continues in successive stages as code is combined with other units of programming to form a software product. Debugging has many benefits such as:

i) It reports an error condition immediately. This allows earlier detection of an error and makes the process  of software development stress-free and unproblematic.

ii) It also provides maximum useful information of data structures and allows easy interpretation.

iii) Debugging assists the developer in reducing useless and distracting information.

iv) Through debugging the developer can avoid complex one-use testing code to save time and energy in software development.

3) Steps involved in debugging:

             There are various processes which are involved during debugging...

      

     i) Identify the Error: 

                                            A bad identification of an error can lead to wasted developing time. It is usual that production errors reported by users are hard to interpret and sometimes the information we receive is misleading. It is import to identify the actual error.

    ii) Find the Error Location: 

                                                   After identifying the error correctly, you need to go through the code to find the exact spot where the error is located. In this stage, you need to focus on finding the error instead of understanding it.

   iii) Analyze the Error:

                                           In the third step, you need to use a bottom-up approach from the error location and analyze the code. This helps you in understanding the error. Analyzing a bug has two main goals, such as checking around the error for other errors to be found, and to make sure about the risks of entering any collateral damage in the fix.

   iv) Prove the Analysis:

                                        Once you are done analyzing the original bug, you need to find a few more errors that may appear on the application. This step is about writing automated tests for these areas with the help of a test framework.

    

v) Cover Lateral Damage:

                                               In this stage, you need to create or gather all the unit tests for the code where you are going to make changes. Now, if you run these unit tests, they all should pass.

   vi) Fix & Validate: 

                                 The final stage is the fix all the errors and run all the test scripts to check if they all pass.

4) Debugging Tools :

Debugging tool is a computer program used to test and debug other programs. There are a lot of public domain software like gdb and dbx that you can use for debugging. Also, they offer console-based command-line interfaces. Some of the automated debugging tools include code-based tracers, profilers, interpreters, etc.

Here is a list of some of the widely used debuggers:

    

    [Radare2]

    [WinDbg]

    [Valgrind]

With this, we have come to the end of our article. I hope you understood what is debugging and the different stages involved in the process of debugging.

5) Debugging using our IDE's :

 

                             [ Debugging using Visual Studio Code ]

     There are lot of free IDE's which are available on internet, like DEV c++, Visual Studio Code, Codeblocks, IDLE.etc.

     which are also useful in dealing with debugging...

     as per my experience debugging is the most useful process which every new student programmer should learn to use for better understanding of codes which they are using...

by using debugging, we can easily understand how every concept and line of code works whether they are loops, conditional statements, functions or classes...

So that was all about debugging, it’s working and its uses…

Do share your views in comment section…

 BY-

ABHISHEK ASHOK LAHASE.

ASSISTANT APTITUDE DEVELOPER.