Here is an interesting debugging technique... It was implemented on
InterLisp-D systems using ADVISE.
Basically, when a function fired it would sound a note through the
keyboard speaker.
Unique notes could be associatated with "interesting" functions e.g
Hich C would sound whenever "DeleteFile" was triggered. Families of
"interesting" functions could be assigned frequencies within specified ranges.
Recursive calls could be aurally monitored by
either sounding the same note at different octaves or simply
descreasing the frequency by some constant - the net effect would be
to give you a general idea of where you were in the call stack by how
low (or high) the note was.
Anyway, you get the idea. You as a debugger would develop a musical
model of what proper versus improper program behavior was and then
compare program behavior against this model. The advantage was that
you didn't have to decipher trace messages that would sometimes fly by
faster than you could read them. And again, behavior could be more
readily discerned.
This probably doesn't have much utility in the "real world" unless you
have a good ear for music but is an interesting addition/alternative
to text-based debugging tools.
Jess "I code with Elvis' Ghost" Thorn
North Carolina Memorial Hospital - Radiation Oncology - Chapel Hill, NC
UUCP: ...!mcnc!godot!thorn,
INTERNET: ·····@godot.radonc.unc.edu