Subj : Re: Not debugging?
To   : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp
From : Greg Menke
Date : Wed Aug 24 2005 03:46 pm

"Phlip" <phlipcpp@yahoo.com> writes:

> Tim X wrote:
> 
> > I'm guessing he was referring to the irritating development of
> > programmers who are not able to debug code without a high level IDE
> > which includes a debugger which allows them to step/trace through the
> > code one line at a time and watch what happens to variables in a watch
> > window.
> 
> No. I'm talking about developers who don't write unit tests as they write 
> code. These provide the option of using Undo, instead of debugging, when the 
> tests fail unexpectedly.
> 
> This leads to a development cycle with highly bug-resistant code, and 
> without proactive debugging to implement new functions.
> 
> Yes, you still need the debugger - typically for legacy situations - and you 
> still need elaborate debugging skills. New code stays ahead of them.
> 
> The idea that we can implement without debugging is incomprehensible to most 
> programmers. But that really is what I meant.
> 


Its quite hard and maybe impossible to write unit tests for some (new)
things; OS bootloaders, device drivers, interrupt handlers, etc.  In
some circumstances, a debugger can be used.  Otherwise you have to do it
the old fashioned way; diagnostic counters, printks, bus analyzers,
sometimes even logic analyzers.

Unit tests are great, but they also have their limits.

Gregm

.