debugging

Make use of the Mac App Store debug menu

The Mac App Store in OS X is Apple's central location for software distribution and updates, and also replaces Software Update as the service for managing OS patches and upgrades. This makes the App Store one of the more commonly used programs in OS X.

While Apple's built-in options in the store should be enough for most people, if needed there are several useful options in the store's hidden Debug menu.

The Debug menu for the App Store is primarily meant to help developers detect and manage problems with the store by providing various logging options and … Read more

Faulty bug finder

Debugging Tools for Windows offers to help rid a computer of pesky bugs, but an overly simple interface and a too complicated Help file could leave people (especially the novice) more frustrated with the cure than with the original bugs.

The program's interface was the first clue that this would be a bumpy ride. While we anticipated a few simple command icons to handle the process, the program's stark design gave us no direction for getting started. The program did offer a comprehensive Help file, but the dense jargon wasn't easy to understand. We attempted to counteract … Read more

Debugging Windows crashes with minidumps? Not at Lenovo

Like many of you, my copies of Windows XP crash with the now-classic "blue screen of death" (BSOD). When this happened a couple times recently to a new ThinkCentre A61 tower, I called Lenovo tech support. As the title of this posting suggests, it did not go well.

When Windows XP crashes, the default behavior is to create a minidump, a small file (only 88K) with a summary of, hopefully, the most important information about the failure. I wrote about minidumps back in November (see Dealing with software crashes, Part 2). If your copy of Windows has crashed (… Read more

For supercomputers, debugging is all 'relative'

Supercomputers need super, or at least novel, debugging.

To meet that need, Cray has just agreed to license Australian software start-up Guardsoft's "relative" debugging technology for use in its new DARPA-funded supercomputer.

Relative debugging allows programmers to track bugs that creep into software as it is modified, or ported from one system to another, according to Guardsoft. It does this by comparing the execution of a suspect program with a clean version. This differs from traditional debugging in two ways: First, it compares program variables not with the user's expectations but with another program known to … Read more