Debugging software is complementary to the testing process. Using debugging software, software engineers and developers can proactively detect and remove errors or bugs in code, avoiding downtime or crashes. Fixing errors or bugs before they are released to the public is important for an organization’s credibility and reliability.
Skipping the debugging process in your systems and applications can lead to serious systemic issues. Debugging helps your organization understand where potential flaws and errors in system code occur before you make a version release to your clients. Fixing flaws and errors after a version release will result in angry customers, tying up your organization’s customer support and developer resources post-production. A good debugging software can minimize customer aggravation with errors and bugs. It can also help a customer view your applications as stable, especially if they are not constantly requesting changes to the newest version due to bugs.
Manual debugging can be difficult because it requires additional valuable human resources. Besides time spent, debugging will add in an additional layer of human error. Debugging software not only saves time by letting engineers and developers work on other high-touch tasks, but also reduces the human error potential. This is especially important in the first and second stages of debugging when you need to isolate the source of a bug as well as identify the cause. A good debugging software can run a program to quickly identify bugs and their sources, eliminating a lot of the research stage of debugging.
If you are looking to buy debugging software, you may want to know what are some easy-to-identify features of using a debugging tool. If you are interested in learning more about debugging solutions from the PeerSpot real user community, check out our free report.
Error Management
Often, the most used feature of a software debugging tool is error management. Romain G., a Software Engineering Manager at a medium-sized tech vendor, describes his use case for using his debugging tool: “My main use case for Sentry is to catch front-end or back-end application errors and report them.” He then goes onto discuss the value that Sentry offers from error management and why it is beneficial for his organization, “The error management is very good. For example, If you have an error that occurred in the frontend or a backend application, then Sentry will catch all contexts and will create an event log.”
Accuracy
When debugging, accuracy is key. Limiting the number of false positives or false negatives can avoid potential issues with a software release. It can also reduce the amount of time that your software developers or engineers spend sifting through information.
Monitoring and Reporting
Ensuring accuracy means having good monitoring and reporting tools available with your debugging software. Good monitoring and reporting tools help engineers and developers see where and when errors or bugs have occurred, as well as the amount of time and resources being dedicated to those errors or bugs. A Site Reliability Engineer at a large retailer uses BugSnag “to monitor our application. We can track and see the customers' journey and what areas are taking a lot of their time.”
Integration
Having a debugging tool that can integrate with other tools is a great enhancement. You can expand your ability to debug more systems and applications. Anirban S., Head of a Solutions Management Group at a medium-sized tech services company, notes how froglogic Coco Code Coverage can be used as a complementary tool, “If somebody is using a kind of Squish as a regression testing tool, froglogic Coco Code Coverage can be used in parallel because these two particular products can communicate with one another.”
A good debugging software tool will offer a combination of these four beneficial features, reducing software development time and human error as well as giving your organization value by letting developers and engineers focus on more high-touch tasks. You can learn more about debugging solutions by checking out PeerSpot’s free report here.
