Debugging Applications, w. CD-ROM (DV-MPS Programming) [Taschenbuch]

On the other hand, the book has no structure whatsoever (consider it a set of app notes/white papers in a single binding) and is Windows-specific in the highest degree. Its value as a general, platrofm- and tool-independent debugging reference is, while perhaps not zero, but rather insignificant. The writing is "magazinish", at times condesending, and somewhat infested with MS "humour", which I personally find annoying.

So, if you work with Windows (NT) A WHOLE LOT, use Visual C++ v6, and write something more involved than mostly-GUI code, you will find this book a very valuable resource, worth the price and the five starts that I gave it. Yet if you are more of a "half-and-half" <g> (Unix/something else/Windows guy) perhaps it won't be as indispensable.

However, for someone who has read all his MSJ work, this book is a bit of a disappointment. The reason is that the second part of the book is a collection of his (slightly-rewritten) MSJ articles, with almost no new content added as far as I can see.

The first part of the book, however, is worth every dollar, as other reviewers have already mentioned, even though I was missing coverage of the WinDbg debugger, and MS tools such as userdump. Maybe in a second edition?

To summarize, I suspect this book to be a 5-star for anyone who is fairly new to debugging and has not read John's MSJ columns. For others, who have been exposed to his columns, and have some experience, I'd rate this book 3-stars.

At first, I though on skipping the chapter on Visual Basic debugging, since I am strictly a VC++ developer, but I am glad I did not. Even that chapter gave me insights that I can use on my day to day, for example, when he runs the VB compiler while in the debugger and is able to see how VB uses the C compiler's code generation (second pass).

Some great insights and lots of good example on how to resolve problems and how to use all the capabilities of the debugger to ones best advantage.

It will teach you what to do when the debugger gets you to a source line that before that line, everything is working properly, after that line the world has turned upside down. It will teach you enough X86 assembly to make you dangerous and be able to read between the (source) lines in the process. Even if you thought you knew it already.

Could it be improved ? Yes, can't it always ? Coverage on tracking memory leaks could be expanded, for example, to cover MFC's shortcomings when reporting them, but this book is a close to perfection as I have seen them.

And it is a great read too. His style is easy to follow, even though some of the subjects are deep and complex, but John transfers the knowledge so easily, it is amazing.

Once I completed my first read, I really felt like I had just finished listening to a very good rendition of a Beethoven or Mozart simphony.

Every developer that aspire to be a serious developer should read it and reread it.

And thank you, John Robbins. I will be buying every book you write.