Software Diagnostics Library

Fool - The long version of a foo program used in C and C++ tutorials.

Examples: What a foolish program!

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

I don’t know how I missed it. It was the first real life slang I heard almost 10 years ago during hot political and critical crash dump analysis session.

DD That - Analyze that simply.

Although more correctly would be to say DP That at that time when I heard it 64-bit computing wasn’t a mainstream yet. Based on dd WinDbg command to dump raw binary data starting from a given 32-bit memory address.

Examples: I dd-ed that and found an ASCII.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

STATUS - Something important to check for just now.

Examples: If only programmers checked statuses of their functions more often than statuses on Facebook…

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

FBI - Fighting Bugs Inside.

Examples: I’m doing an FBI work now!

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

poo - a function that follows foo and bar with a purpose to trigger a crash event, a breakpoint or save memory state.

Examples: void main() { foo(); } void foo() { poo(); } void poo() { asm int 3; }

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

STaMPs - Software Trace and Memory Patterns. Stack Trace and Memory Patterns.

Examples: Got a few visible stamps on this trace. And more stamps on that crash dump.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

A NoSQL Problem - when nothing appears on a refresh.

Examples: I got a NoSQL problem when I signed in to that social website.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Memorandum - when memory ran dump.

Examples: We got a few memorandums from that market leader.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Typology - a logic of typos in software. Typological - a logical typo.

Examples: A typology of defects in source code. An engineer committed a grave typological mistake.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Watching a Movie - Watching the prodigious output of some debugging commands and scripts in real time.

Examples: Watching the output of !process 0 ff  WinDbg command. Watching the output of user stack trace database and breaking in when it becomes uniform.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

LoL - Law of Large

Examples: Q. How did you resolve this support case? A. LoL number!

Explanation: The more support incidents you get, the larger their tracking numbers. So at some stage the law of large numbers comes into effect: there is always a similar incident in the past. Don’t confuse with LOL.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

The new 6th volume contains revised, edited, cross-referenced, and thematically organized selected DumpAnalysis.org blog posts about memory dump and software trace analysis, software troubleshooting and debugging written in November 2010 - October 2011 for software engineers developing and maintaining products on Windows platforms, quality assurance engineers testing software on Windows platforms, technical support and escalation engineers dealing with complex software issues, and security researchers, malware analysts and reverse engineers. The sixth volume features:

• 56 new crash dump analysis patterns including 14 new .NET memory dump analysis patterns
• 4 new pattern interaction case studies
• 11 new trace analysis patterns
• New Debugware pattern
• Introduction to UI problem analysis patterns
• Introduction to intelligence analysis patterns
• Introduction to unified debugging pattern language
• Introduction to generative debugging, metadefect template library and DNA of software behaviour
• The new school of debugging and trends
• .NET memory dump analysis checklist
• Software trace analysis checklist
• Introduction to close and deconstructive readings of a software trace
• Memory dump analysis compass
• Computical and Stack Trace Art
• The abductive reasoning of Philip Marlowe
• Orbifold memory space and cloud computing
• Memory worldview
• Interpretation of cyberspace
• Relationship of memory dumps to religion
• Fully cross-referenced with Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5

Product information:

• Title: Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 6
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Opentask (December 2011)
• ISBN-13: 978-1-908043-19-1

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Opentask (January 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1-908043-20-7

Back cover features 3d memory space visualization image created with ParaView.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Abscess - A Bad Service and Customer Experience Short Story. Can also be an abbreviation for a bad support …

Examples: After combating an abscess a customer decided to take a social media approach. An abscess process.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Finction (or simply Finc) - A function with a flaw, having abnormal behaviour, a candidate for a fix or axing.

Examples: After delivering a hotfix with axed code they were embarrassed to see that finction again on a stack trace.

Etymology: Derives from “function”. Inspired by MDAA V3 errata.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Second Eye (or sometimes a stronger variant “second pair of eyes”) - another engineer you typically need when you don’t see anything useful in a memory dump, software trace or source code for problem resolution purposes. You are anxious to recommend something useful.

Examples: Don’t see anything in this huge trace. I need a second eye.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Adult Debugging - The act of debugging when you are dealing with Functions you don’t know much about using public sources. Comes from famous xxx calls, for example:

win32k!xxxHkCallHook
win32k!xxxCallHook2
win32k!xxxCallHook
win32k!xxxReceiveMessage
win32k!xxxRealSleepThread
win32k!xxxSleepThread
win32k!xxxInterSendMsgEx
win32k!xxxSendMessageTimeout
win32k!xxxWrapSendMessage

Examples: We are doing adult debugging from time to time.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Found it funny that President’s Daily Brief is abbreviated as PDB. For intelligence analysts who might be reading this post there are a few links explaining PDB files:

• Program database 
• Symbol files explained

I also suggest to deabbreviate PDB files as Programmer’s Daily Briefs in the context of nightly builds on Windows platforms.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

Tapping - The act of collecting software traces for subsequent pattern-driven trace analysis. From TAP (Trace Analysis Pattern).

Examples: We started tapping the service for any anomalies. Software tapping methods and tools.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

I’m pleased to announce that MDAA, Volume 5 is available in PDF format:

www.dumpanalysis.org/Memory+Dump+Analysis+Anthology+Volume+5

It features:

- 25 new crash dump analysis patterns
- 11 new pattern interaction case studies (including software tracing)
- 16 new trace analysis patterns
- 7 structural memory patterns
- 4 modeling case studies for memory dump analysis patterns
- Discussion of 3 common analysis mistakes
- Malware analysis case study
- Computer independent architecture of crash analysis report service
- Expanded coverage of software narratology
- Metaphysical and theological implications of memory dump worldview
- More pictures of memory space and physicalist art
- Classification of memory visualization tools
- Memory visualization case studies
- Close reading of the stories of Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Watson’s observational patterns
- Fully cross-referenced with Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and Volume 4

Its table of contents is available here:

www.dumpanalysis.org/MDAA/MDA-Anthology-V5-TOC.pdf

Paperback and hardcover versions should be available in a week or two. I also started working on Volume 6 that should be available in November-December.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

The Window of Opportunity - WYSIWYG. Requires scrolling or search to get most of it.

Examples: He opened a log file in notepad and was staring at it with disbelief. There was no error. After some time he closed the window of opportunity.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -