Week10 DEBUGGING

Program Errors and
Debugging
Week 10, Thursday Lab
Debugging Programs
• Manually verify your program first
– Trace the program by hand
• With the different inputs it can take
• Use print statements
• Using the debugger
Off-by-One Loop Errors
• Executing the loop by one more or one less
time than it is supposed to
– If a sentinel-controlled while loop performs extra
repetition, it may erroneously process the sentinel
value along with the regular data
• (e.g. when reading from a file, WHILE eof).
• Checking Loop Boundaries by hand:
– Evaluate initial expression and the final expression
– Substitute these values everywhere the counter
variable appears in the loop body
– Verify that you get the expected results at the
boundaries
Conditional Errors
• Probably the most common error is not using or
misusing BEGIN and END.
• IF <condition> THEN
<statement>
ELSE SINGLE STATEMENTS or
<statement> COMPOUND STATEMENT
• CASE <selector> OF:

<label-list> : <statement>
…
ELSE
<statement-list> <statement> ;
<statement>;
END ...
<statement>;
Conditional Errors
• You are not testing all the conditions you
should be testing
– Some conditions aren’t caught and “fall
through”
• Your condition expressions are not correct
(you have a logical error…)
Common Loop Errors:
Off-by-One Loop
• Example: Sum of squares of numbers
Sum := 0;
FOR J := K TO N-K DO
Sum := Sum + Sqr(J);
– First value of J = K
– Last value of J = N-K
– The assignment at J = K is
Sum := Sqr(K)
– The assignment at J = N-K is
Sum := Prev.Sum + Sqr(N-K)
– At some small value of N=3 & K=1,
trace the loop execution (by hand or with the debugger)
Common Loop Errors:
Too Narrowly Defined Condition
• Example:
WHILE Balance <> 0.0 DO
Update (Balance)
BETTER:
WHILE Balance > 0.0 DO
Update (Balance)
• Don't use inequality for testing conditions,
especially with numbers.
– If Balance goes from negative to positive value without
having 0.0 as a value we will get an infinite loop.
• When using sentinel, make sure that its value can't
be confused with normal data item.
Common Loop Errors: Not
Updating the Loop Control Variable
• If a loop body have more than one statement, don't forget
the BEGIN-END brackets.
–Only REPEAT-UNTIL loop doesn't need a begin-end brackets.
• Example: (infinite loop)
WHILE Power <= 10000 DO

writeln('Next power of N is ', Power :6);
Power := Power * N;
• Don't use the REPEAT-UNTIL loop if you aren't sure that

the loop will have to be executed at least once.
• In a FOR loop if the starting value is greater (for TO) or
smaller than (for DOWNTO) the statement will not
execute.
Common Loop Errors
• Counter variable in a FOR loop should not
be changed inside the loop body.
– Example: what happens if you do
(RECTBAD1.PAS)
• It is illegal to use the same counter
variable in two nested FOR loops.
– Example: what happens if you do
(RECTBAD2.PAS)
• Unfortunately the Turbo Pascal
environment doesn’t check for you
Locating Runtime Errors with
‘PRINT’ Statements
1. Examine program output to determine which part of the
program is generating incorrect results
– Insert extra debugging statements (‘PRINT’ statements) to
display intermediate results at different points in your
program
– HOW? Insert extra writeln statements to trace the values of
certain critical variables during program execution
– In order to not add any problems be careful that you insert
extra writeln statement check if you need to add BEGIN-
END brackets
2. Focus on statements in that section to determine which
are at fault
3. When you locate the error, enclose the diagnostic
statement with comment braces
The Debugger
• Helps you execute your program in a
controlled fashion to help you find errors:
– Stepping through program
– Seeing output
– Watching the value of variables
– Running from breakpoint to breakpoint
• Prints diagnostics when run-time error occurs
• Indicates the statement that caused the error
and displays the values of the selected
variables
Stepped Program Execution
• Run Menu commands:
– F7: Trace into2
– F8: Step over
– F4: Go to cursor
– Run: to through run to the end
• Usually used in conjunction with output or
variable watching
• NOTE: F7 and F8 are hard to distinguish
sometimes
Watching Output During Execution
• Output command (Debug Menu):
– Opens output window at same time as
program window
– Allows seeing program running with tracing
commands (F4, F7, F8)
– Shows output as control moves through
program
Watching Variables & Expressions
• Watch:
– Can select several values whose values will
automatically be displayed after each
statement execution.
– Can type in an expression to be evaluated
based on variables in program
Executing with Breakpoints
• Causes the program to stop at selected
statements
• You can set several breakpoints at a program.
The program will execute directly from one
breakpoint to the next
• Good for large programs (when don’t want to
use F7, F8 or even F4).
• Signaled in Red/Brown – then in blue-green
when you get there.
• Run from breakpoint to breakpoint
Executing with Breakpoints [cont]
• Can add a conditional breakpoint
• If you do, make sure you remove
unconditional breakpoints at the same
place.
– Breakpoints : Delete

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Program Errors and

• CASE <selector> OF:

WHILE Power <= 10000 DO

• Don't use the REPEAT-UNTIL loop if you aren't sure that

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