Software Diagnostics Library

“Memory dumps are facts.”

I’m very excited to announce that Volume 3 is available in paperback, hardcover and digital editions:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 3

Table of Contents

In two weeks paperback edition should also appear on Amazon and other bookstores. Amazon hardcover edition is planned to be available in January 2010.

The amount of information was so voluminous that I had to split the originally planned volume into two. Volume 4 should appear by the middle of February together with Color Supplement for Volumes 1-4. 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Finally, after the long delay, the issue is available in print on Amazon and through other sellers:

Debugged! MZ/PE: Software Tracing

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I’m very pleased to announce that Dan Skwire’s unique book has been published by OpenTask:

First Fault Software Problem Solving: A Guide for Engineers, Managers and Users

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Advanced .NET Debugging (Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series)

I’ve just started reading this book (see my notes on Software Generalist blog) and this review is written from the perspective of an unmanaged and native software engineer (the last phrase sounds funny). Being a member of a software support of a large software company I analyze crash dumps that have mscorwks.dll on their stack traces. So if you see them too this book helps you to understand what this DLL is all about and how to dig inside the hidden world of .NET it manages. I’m on page 26 and will update this review as soon as I finish the book in a few months. Please also see my review of the previous Mario’s (co-authored with Daniel Pravat) book: Advanced Windows Debugging. It is of great importance to know .NET world for Windows maintenance engineers and I originally planned a similar book Unmanaged Code: Escaping the Matrix of .NET but didn’t have time to finish it yet

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I plan to publish a gigabyte. The book cover and data can be found here:

Gigabyte product information

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This weekend noticed that it is in stock and this means that I soon get it in the post:

Advanced .NET Debugging (Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series)

I plan to start reading it as soon as it arrives and put notes on my Software Generalist blog.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I have created Book Errata page at this address:

http://www.dumpanalysis.org/MDAA-Volume2-Errata

The link to it has also been added to the main book ad page:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 2

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

As a dual to my previous Resume and CV: As a Book (it actually has a “bug” on the cover, try to spot it) I plan to publish the long time memories in the following book next year:

My Failed Job Interviews: Reflections on 50 Percent (ISBN: 978-1906717889)

The recollections of my pre-memory dump analysis era span East and West, small and giant software companies, full time and part time, office and remote job positions, direct and recruitment company hiring, phone and on-site, technical and business interviews.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

To commemorate 200 years since Darwin’s birth and 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species, OpenTask plans to dedicate December, 2009 issue of Debugged! MZ/PE magazine to taxonomy and evolution of software defects and March, 2010 issue to multithreading (as natural selection).

Debugged! MZ/PE: Systematics and Evolution of Software Defects, December, 2009 (Paperback, ISBN: 978-1906717827)

Debugged! MZ/PE: Multithreading, March, 2010 (Paperback, ISBN: 978-1906717834)

Here are draft front covers designed during last weekend:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

The best of artistic work commissioned by OpenTask to be published with annotations in the following book scheduled to open 2010, The Year of The Foundation of Debugging (Crash Dump Analysis):

Spikes, Hangs, Crashes, Leaks and Dumps of Imagination: The Art of the Debugging Art (ISBN: 978-1906717841)

Note: This is not a book about natural computer memory visualization.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Software installation may fail: this is a fact (like Evolution). Therefore this is the domain of troubleshooting and debugging proper. Usually such problems are typically analyzed by reading Windows Installer MSI logs that are examples of software traces. The following book is on my desk now:

The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

While doing Google search today found the site for the forthcoming Mario Hewardt’s new book Advanced .NET Debugging:

www.advanceddotnetdebugging.com

with 74-page sample chapter. Looking forward to reading this book.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I always carry my blogging notebook with me. A few weeks ago I was pictured while trying to reach it and write down one of ideas that usually spring to my mind during nature and family walks:

I plan to update The Perfect Gift for a Blogger in Q1, 2010 taking into account my year long experience with it and various accumulated suggestions. It will also have a short Twitter section.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is a revised, edited, cross-referenced and thematically organized volume of selected DumpAnalysis.org blog posts about crash dump analysis and debugging written in October 2008 - June 2009 for software engineers developing and maintaining products on Windows platforms, quality assurance engineers testing software on Windows platforms and technical support and escalation engineers dealing with complex software issues. The third volume features:

- 15 new crash dump analysis patterns
- 29 new pattern interaction case studies
- Trace analysis patterns
- Updated checklist
- Fully cross-referenced with Volume 1 and Volume 2
- New appendixes

Product information:

• Title: Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 3
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Opentask (20 December 2009)
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-43-8

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Opentask (30 January 2010)
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-44-5

Back cover features 3D computer memory visualization image.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I noticed previously that WDPF book gains value after being used but didn’t anticipate the scale of price value leak and spike. Today I noticed that used books gain even more value and now cost more than gold, platinum and iridium (note that the first seller’s price is one cent cheaper, really a super book deal):

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org - 

Today one colleague asked me why my books are no longer #1 and #2. Here is my explanation:

Amazon sales rank is updated hourly. If someone buys a book or two now the rating goes up. The most important thing that some books are top for a long time periodically. I see MDAA Volume 1 from time to time on top for 1.5 years. Many books become bestsellers once (after a one time marketing effort or due to the novelty effect) and then never recover again.

I set up the following widget for top debugging and windows debugging books:

http://www.dumpanalysis.org/debugging-bestsellers

http://www.dumpanalysis.org/windows-debugging-bestsellers
 
- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I plan the following titles to be published in Q4:

- Debugged! MZ/PE: Software Tracing, September, 2009 (ISBN: 978-1906717797)
- Windows Debugging Notebook: Essential Concepts, WinDbg Commands and Tools (ISBN: 978-1906717001)
- Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 3 (ISBN: 978-1906717438 and 978-1906717445)
- Memory Dump Analysis Anthology: Color Supplement for Volumes 1-3 (ISBN: 978-1906717698)
- First Fault Software Problem Solving: A Guide for Engineers, Managers and Users (ISBN: 978-1906717421) by Dan Skwire
- Crash Dump Analysis for System Administrators and Support Engineers (Windows Edition)  (ISBN: 978-1906717025) 

The title of the latter book was slightly changed. After some time we realized that the same material is appropriate for support engineers as well.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Some users and fans were asking why many announced books are delayed and delayed. The answer is very simple: I am a full time employee of Citrix Systems,  prioritize my job first and put books and blogs at the end of the priority chain. However, I have now reserved 2-3 hours every evening to finish a few books and my next blog post announces which of them are scheduled for Q4 this Year of Debugging.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Occasionally I check my books to see how they are positioned on Amazon and noticed that Windows Debugging: Practical Foundations and Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1 paperback titles are #1 and #2 bestsellers (at the time of this writing) on Amazon Debugging and Assembly Language Programming bestselling lists:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -