| DeBugging Perl |
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The book is split into five main sections. The first is an
introduction and looks at the types of bugs and problems that the book
aims to resolve. The second section is a guide to better programming
practices when using Perl. Part 3 covers the art of debugging, from
simple error trapping, right up to the tools and facilities provided
by Perl for debugging your scripts. Part 4 centers on optimization of
Perl code, and the last section looks at testing and breaking your
code once it's been completed to make sure that your program is bug
free.
The chapter specific contents are detailed below.
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| Chapter 1 Introduction |
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Looks at the types of bugs, the mechanics of how bugs are introduced, and some of the ways in which you can ease the development process through the use of good editors and version management systems like RCS and CVS.
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| Chapter 2 How Perl Parses a Statement |
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Gives a detailed look at how Perl takes raw text and parses it into the language statements that make up a Perl program.
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| Chapter 3 Common Variable Traps |
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A guide to some of the more popular problems associated with using variables that make it into many Perl programs.
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| Chapter 4 Statement and Function Traps |
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Follows on from the previous chapter and looks instead at problems to do with using functions and statements. This includes a good to some of the function specific bugs that can creep into your applications.
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| Chapter 5 Program Design |
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A guide to better program design, from the basics of abstraction, through to better design of functions, modules and objects and classes.
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| Chapter 6 Language/Platform Migration Guide |
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Looks at the common problems associated with moving Perl scripts from platform to platform and at the common mistakes made by programmers who are migrating to Perl from another language.
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| Chapter 7 Basic Error Trapping |
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A fundamental look at how to trap and report errors in your scripts.
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| Chapter 8 Using Pragmas and Warnings |
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Gives information on how to use the built-in Perl systems to report possible problems.
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| Chapter 9 Manual Debugging Techniques |
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A guide to some of the simpler alternatives to a full blown debugger that you can use to trace and report information so that you can identify and locate a particular bug.
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| Chapter 10 The Perl Debuggers |
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Gives information on the both the standard and ActivePerl debuggers, and on the embedded debugging systems that can optionally be included in the Perl interpreter.
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| Chapter 11 Manual Optimization |
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Looks at some of the ways in which you can improve performance, or memory usage, just be looking at the code you are producing.
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| Chapter 12 Automatic Optimization |
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Gives detailed information on the Perl profiler and compiler and how to use the information they provide to identify areas of code that can be optimized.
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| Chapter 13 Building a Test Harness |
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A guide to writing test routines and scripts that check the limits and covers the debugging tool available with the Perl Development kit.
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| Chapter 14 Breaking your Code |
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Offers some insight into the external factors, and how to manipulate them, so that you can test your code in extreme conditions. This should help you to consider making changes to your code to handle situations you might not have considered during development.
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| Appendix A Error Message Quick References |
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A complete guide to the error messages produced by Perl.
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