How to Read This Book | Comprehensive VB .NET Debugging

This book is divided into four parts and fifteen chapters. It's advisable to start with the first four chapters, as these contain a comprehensive introduction to areas covered in the rest of the book. Apart from that, you should be able to dip in and out of chapters without having to reference backward or forward. At the end of each chapter is a short "Interlude" section, which presents some interesting stories from the debugging world.

Part One: Debugging in the VB .NET World

This part first takes a high-level, strategic look at debugging in the .NET world and then takes a much more detailed look at how the powerful new language features in VB .NET can trip you up.

Chapter 1 is a discussion of the strategic debugging challenges of VB .NET and the new .NET world. It shows some of the challenges and danger areas that you need to understand in order to have a firm strategic base for defect prevention.
Chapter 2 is an introduction to some of the nasty language surprises that lie in wait for the unwary. The VB .NET language has a superficial resemblance to VB.Classic, and this resemblance can deceive the developer into underestimating the dangers of switching to the VB .NET language.

Part Two: The Debugging Tools

This part covers the Visual Studio .NET debugger in some detail before investigating some other useful .NET debugging tools. It finishes with an examination of VB .NET's tracing and instrumentation facilities.

Chapter 3 is a comprehensive introduction to the capabilities of the Visual Studio .NET debugger.
Chapter 4 is a more detailed look at the Visual Studio .NET debugger, including a discussion of the various debugger settings and its more advanced capabilities.
Chapter 5 investigates some useful debugging tools such as other .NET debuggers , the Ildasm utility, and the Performance Monitor.
Chapter 6 looks in detail at tracing and instrumentation of desktop and network .NET applications.

Part Three: Debugging Applications

This part shows you how to configure and implement debugging for each of the most common VB .NET application types. It also includes a discussion of some advanced VB .NET debugging techniques.

Chapter 7 investigates the debugging of Windows Forms applications, including class and control libraries.
Chapter 8 investigates the debugging of XML Web services.
Chapter 9 investigates the debugging of ASP .NET applications.
Chapter 10 investigates the debugging of Windows services.
Chapter 11 investigates cross-language debugging with VB.Classic.
Chapter 12 investigates cross-language debugging with SQL Server.

Part Four: Debugging Common Scenarios

This part has an extensive discussion of error handling in VB .NET applications, and it also examines the debugging of multithreaded and distributed applications.

Chapter 13 investigates VB .NET's exception mechanism and error-handling facilities, and shows you how to protect your applications effectively.
Chapter 14 investigates the debugging of multithreaded applications, with an emphasis on the prevention of multithreading bugs by good design.
Chapter 15 investigates the debugging and monitoring of distributed applications, with an emphasis on remote debugging, debugging remoting, and providing reliable fault diagnostics.