Code

Is it fixed?

When you want to know if your software is fixed, you need to check it. This may seem obvious, but the number of people who don’t bother cannot be counted. And by “check”, I don’t mean “does the fix look like it worked?” followed by “yes, then let’s deploy it”, I mean something quite different. … Read more

Generating a trace

Generating a trace with the perl debugger. Having the right tool for the job is essential. It’s all very well having a big, impressive hammer in your toolbox, but if you  ave a nut and a bolt to put together, you won’t get very far unless you have a spanner too. A trace is a report of … Read more

Debugging a Perl Program

Debugging a Perl Program It’s possible to start the debugger with a piece of Perl code as an argument by including the C<-e> switch on the command line. To debug a particular program instead, we substitute the program name to be debugged, along with any required arguments. So let’s do this with our current program (charcount) and dive into … Read more

Look, look, look!

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, it doesn’t matter that you are highly experienced, there will still be times when you simply need to look at the problem, rather than think your way through it. Of course thinking is useful, and a pre-requisite habit for any successful developer to foster, but even if you’re smart you … Read more

Look before you leap!

Take almost any software application problem, whether using the Perl programming language, or any other, and you’ll want to fix it, probably quickly. The temptation will usually be to think your way around the problem, second-guessing what the issue might be, and trying a couple of quick-fixes, in the hope that the problem will go … Read more