Debugging the Undebuggable: Tools and Strategies for Diagnosis

Worth every page. I have already recommended it to two colleagues.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Disappointing. The description oversold what is actually inside.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. I would look elsewhere unless you have a specific reason to need this particular title.

Finally, a book that treats software development with the care it deserves.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.