August 91 - Software Review - SourceBug Reviewed
Software Review - SourceBug Reviewed
Matt Stibbe
SourceBug is a source browser, a MacApp inspector window, and a SADE-style MPW
debugging utility with a Symantec-style debugger user interface.
Mike Lockwood created SourceBug to debug MacApp applications written in C++ or
Object Pascal. It has some debugging facilities that are specialized for MacApp, but
should also do a good job with other programs that are compiled in MPW 3.2 with the
symbolic debugging information option.
This review is based on a beta release of SourceBug-version 1.0b2x1-so perhaps it is
better described as a preview. It was tested with Zortech C++, MPW CFront, Pascal
and C under MPW 3.2. In each case, I tested SourceBug with one or more of the
standard example programs that come with MPW, using SourceBug to explore the code
and functions of the application, and to trace its operation. I tested it with several
MacApp-specific applications-Apple's samples-using both C++ and Pascal versions. I
also tested it with a C++ application.
GETTING STARTED
SourceBug requires System 6.0.x; MultiFinder 6.1b9 (the MultiFinder that comes
with SADE) or System 7; 128k ROMS; and sufficient memory to run both it and the
application under test. Ideally, there should also be sufficient memory to run MPW at
the same time.
SourceBug asks for a three megabytes partition. I ran it using virtual memory under
System 7.0 on a Mac IIcx without obvious problems. SourceBug's compatibility with
VM may ease the problem of memory squeeze when debugging large applications. MPW
contributes to this problem because it requires a large slice of memory to build
MacApp applications. For this reason, and due to the number of windows in use, and
performance requirements, I recommend using a Mac II or better. MPW 3.2 is
required since .sym information from the 3.2 linker differs from previous versions.
INSTALLATION