Miklos Szigetvari writes: >We are struggling with the debugger for several years >The main problems: >- very very slow >- unable to handle properly multithread application >- abends in various places >etc etc >By the way we had a common project ( a PMR) a few years ago with the >Toronto Lab, we sent and received the source code, >and in the source code received from them, we seen a number of printf's >, debug macro's etc etc >We are in z/OS 1.8 and we had WD4Z (Web Sphere)
That doesn't suprise me at all for a few reasons. The first reason is the "few years ago" part. I think it was only late 2006 (Version 7) when there were some feature improvements for C++ added that a lot of developers demanded. The second reason is that IBM cannot anticipate exactly which debugger you have (if any), so if we're working collaboratively we may have to fall back on printfs. I know when I was in support I'd often start with the most basic troubleshooting inspection process, often thinking at the same time that it would be so darn useful if my customer had tool X or utility Y installed (and if I had remote access). Sometimes I would remember to ask, but there's an overwhelming tendency for support-type people to walk you through the "universal approach" by default, which in this case is printf. The third reason is that you can still use printfs and the like, so even programmers armed with debuggers they love still use both techniques. The fourth reason is there are many production scenarios where recording log files is essential, so you might be putting that stuff in your code anyway. Especially in the mainframe world where more people worry about deploying highly supportable code. >We got now a new z9, we will try again, but till now , we were unable to >find any real error with the help of the debugger >The "hello word " program, and its variants are working with the >debugger, but a real complex application with DLL's , multithread not. OK, please get whatever you find back to IBM. If the problems you describe are still going on, it sounds like IBM has a lot of gap to close to meet your needs. Make sure you challenge my colleages and give them a shot to do better. - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
