Debugging techniques

Abstract Debugging is efficient if it detects all program errors in a short time. This paper discusses several techniques for improving debugging efficiency. Attention is given both to the initial debugging and to acceptance testing in the maintenance stage. A main decision is whether to use top‐down or bottom‐up debugging, and it is suggested that top‐down debugging is more efficient if combined with some of the other techniques. All the techniques shown are independent of any particular language or debug software.