Writing Solid Code: Microsoft's Techniques for Developing Bug-Free C Programs (Microsoft Programming Series)

"This book has useful things to say and an engaging way of saying them...a worthwhile addition to the shelves of any full-time programmer." - PC Week. Here, from a former Microsoft developer, are super secrets for developing bug-free C programs. Maguire provides examples of how bugs are caught at Microsoft (using actual case histories) and shows how readers can use these proven programming techniques to get products to market faster. Here, from a former Microsoft developer, are super secrets for developing bug-free C programs. You'll see examples of how bugs are caught at Microsoft (actual case histories) and how to use these proven programming techniques to get products to market faster.

Experience Level: All

Explains Microsoft's techniques for developing bug free C programs and provides practical approaches to the prevention and automatic detection of errors. Focus is on an in-depth analysis and exposition of not-so-obvious coding errors in the sample code provided. The theme is to answer the questions 'How couild I have automatically detected this bug' and 'How could I have prevented this bug'? Chapters include programmer attitudes, techniques and debugging methodology. A particularly revealing chapter is "Treacheries of the Trade", should be required reading for all C maniacs. The author has been a professional programmer for seventeen years and draws heavily (and candidly) on actual coding prblems and practices based on years of experience at Microsoft. t

Fatbrain Review Explains Microsoft's techniques for developing bug free C programs and provides practical approaches to the prevention and automatic detection of errors. Focus is on an in-depth analysis and exposition of not-so-obvious coding errors in the sample code provided. The theme is to answer the questions 'How couild I have automatically detected this bug' and 'How could I have prevented this bug'? Chapters include programmer attitudes, techniques and debugging methodology. A particularly revealing chapter is "Treacheries of the Trade", should be required reading for all C maniacs. The author has been a professional programmer for seventeen years and draws heavily (and candidly) on actual coding problems and practices based on years of experience at Microsoft. This book takes on the problem of software errors by examining the kinds of mistakes developers typically make. The key to writing bug-free code is to become more aware of how and why bugs come about. Programmers can gain this awareness by asking two simple questions for every bug they encounter: "How could I have prevented this bug?" and "How could I have automatically detected this bug?" The guidelines presented in this book are the results of programmers regularly asking these questions over a number of years FOREWORD Ьу Dave Moore, Director of Development, Microsoft xi PREFACE xvii INТRODUCТION xxi 1 А HYPOTHETICAL COМPILER 1 2 ASSERT YOURSELF 13 3 FORTIFY YOUR SUBSYSTEMS 45 4 STEP TНROUGH YOUR СООЕ 75 5 CANDY-MACHINE INTERFACES 87 6 RISKY BUSINESS 111 7 TREACHERIES OF ТНЕ TRADE 145 8 ТНЕ RE5T 15 ATTITUDE 171 EPILOGUE WНERE Do You Go FROM HERE? 195 APPENDIX А CODING CHECKLISТS 197 APPENDIX В MEMORY LOGGING ROUТINE5 203 APPENDIX С AN5WERS 213 REFERENCE5 245 INDEX 247 Written by a former Microsoft developer, this book takes on the problem of bugs by examining the development process and the places where developers typically make mistakes. The author provides practical solutions for detecting mistakes and examples of how bugs are caught at Microsoft.