Debugging Software

We do webinars about once a month on various topics across the software development lifecycle. The common theme of course is how application record and replay can dramatically and demonstrably improve defect resolution.

Usually we average between 150 and 200 registrants. However, this month’s topic has driven sign-ups absolutely off the charts. Seems like test automation is a hot button topic right now and our webinar on Wednesday, Nov 2 (Automate testing for Java EE apps – Selenium, HP ALM, LoadRunner) already has 400+ registrants with more pouring in.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised because as organizations push more agile (and shorter) schedules, automation is crucial. For us, this trend is definitely our friend.

It starts with continuous integration and our ability to identify and explain even minor differences in test execution between code versions. After that, our ability to precisely locate regression test failures extends the ROI of that process from bug finding to bug communication, replication and resolution. We’re now even getting traction with the security folks who in addition to finding security and compliance issues via vulnerability scanners,  now want to bring the issue to development in the form of our recording to accelerate remediation (after all, a vulnerability is simply just another kind of bug).

We’re excited that our automated test solutions are resonating so strongly. If you happen to miss the live webinar, check out our website where we archive all of our “greatest hits”.

Postscript:  Final count 482.

Enterprise applications are veritable volcanoes waiting to erupt in an explosion of logs, exceptions, console messages, etc. that describe the inner workings of the code execution. Most users don’t see all that seething activity and neither do developers, testers, support or operations staff—until a problem occurs.

When an application slows down unexpectedly, malfunctions or is hacked, all those under-the-surface events take on vital importance in finding and fixing the defect. The problem is, out of the literally millions of execution events, where do you look and more importantly, if you do know where to look, how do you get the specific information that you need to diagnose the problem? Another one of those needle and haystack challenges.

Today we’re announcing the solution to this dilemma and it’s called ReplayLIGHTNING. As a real time diagnostic portal integrated with the record/replay functionality of ReplayDIRECTOR, ReplayLIGHTNING presents a graphical summary of execution behavior along with multiple views of the critical execution events that describe a defect or abnormal behavior. Think of an MRI for application execution that can be viewed in an IDE, a web UI or a dashboard in a monitoring or profiling tool.

In addition to providing highly actionable triage information, the other role for ReplayLIGHTNING is to work in conjunction with an execution recording to “data mine” for source level root cause. Because a Replay recording re-executes the binaries on playback, we can “go back in time” to ask questions that you would only know to ask in hindsight. For example, we use our knowledge of a memory leak meltdown to see when objects are allocated and if they somehow missed the GC process. So we can not only describe the memory leak at its messy end, we can also pinpoint where it all started.

ReplayDIRECTOR has always been a great “time machine” for recreating application execution with 100% fidelity. With ReplayLIGHTNING, we’ve added  split-second control to dial in exactly where in that time machine you’d like to travel–with a preview of coming attractions.

Hop on board. www.replaysolutions.com/products/replaylightning

When light beer burst on the scene a generation ago, the biggest marketing challenge was to convince consumers that brewers could actually extract calories while still maintaining acceptable flavor. OK, that was a long time ago and now we have a full range of caloric options for beer. But every marketer (and beer drinker) will remember “Less Filling, Tastes Great”.

We will be making some exciting product announcements next week that addresses a similar kind of tension—this one in the software defect resolution space. Typically if a tester, developer or support person wants to get started on diagnosing an application bug, they’ll do some screen scrapes and a log dump but what really accelerates defect resolution are source-level root cause diagnostics. With current profilers, monitors and probe products, the tradeoff between “there’s bug in your code and here’s some logs” and “you have a fatal exception and here is the offending thread and corresponding source code” has, up until now, been very difficult to reconcile.

That’s right, up until now. Given the experience we have working deep in Java code execution and the 100% visibility into program execution that our app recording technology provides, we have come up with some very clever ways to deliver both triage speed and root cause depth in the same debug UI. The quality equivalent of great tasting light beer.

Stay tuned for some truly electrifying advancements in software defect resolution. (Hint: Sept 27).