55.

Structure

Chapters 1-5 will discuss the relationship between effective debugging and effective software development, and describe a method of rigorously debugging software. In particular, they will stress the dependence of effective debugging on heavy unit testing.

Chapters 6-21 will focus on specific bug patterns for the Java programming language that are applicable in a variety of contexts. By no means are these bug patterns meant to form an exhaustive list; it is my hope that they will form a solid base on which other developers will build, identifying additional patterns that occur in more specific contexts.

Chapter 22 will discuss how we can best make use of traditional design patterns to make the task of debugging software easier. Our discussion will be motivated by the bug patterns covered throughout the rest of the book.

Finally, although all the bug patterns discussed in this book apply to Java, many of them apply to other languages as well, especially to object-oriented ones. To be sure, bug patterns are patterns at the level of coding, so in some ways they must be language specific. But there are aspects of some patterns common to all languages. I encourage programmers to adapt these patterns to other languages, where applicable.