Chapter 20. Profiling, Debugging, and Exception Handling
IN THIS CHAPTER
In this chapter, we discuss the different methods of debugging and optimizing managed .NET applications. The task of troubleshooting and debugging software is a difficult one that begins in the design phase of the software development process. We will look at the different options open to Visual Basic .NET developers for ferreting out runtime and logic problems that may be present in your code. Starting with exception handling, we examine the different varieties of error-handling constructs available in Visual Basic .NET. Then we examine the concepts of instrumentation and tracing as an additional complement to error handling. Finally, we look at how to use various .NET components in an attempt to identify and fix performance issues with managed code.
Although this chapter does not focus on any one namespace, we will be seeing a lot of the System.Diagnostics namespace because of its tight integration in the debugging mission.
After reading this chapter, you should have a firm grasp of the following:
Implementing structured exception handlers
Instrumenting your code using the Debug and Trace classes from the System.Diagnostics namespace
Creating custom performance counters to track an application's performance statistics