Diagnosing a crasher (was Re: Quality, reputation, and improving both)

[Ralph DiMola]

I have an IDE bug that I have to get a recipe for. It might not be possible
to whittle this one down and I might have to send Panos the full stack with
data files off line.

1) After the openCard message is passed to the engine if the script editor
is open the engine loops for 5-10 seconds before the IDE is once again
responsive. On Windows the IDE and stack window(s) get that red at the top
right. If you click anywhere you get the "Not Responding" in the title bar.
Close the script editor and speed is back to normal. Open it back up and
it's slow again but not instantly. I doesn't happen on all cards though. I
traced and traced it but an F11 after the last opencard handler and the IDE
just loops for a while(if the script editor is open) and the fans get
louder. It took a while before I realized that just closing the script
editor would get things going again and I could test changes to the card.

2) The above and this might be related to the slow stack saving on Windows.
Unzipping a 2mb zip file with fair amount(400 so) smallish files(4mb
unzipped) using revzip also locks up the IDE and gets the "Not Responding"
thingy for 20 or so seconds. On both mobile platforms it's sub second for
the same code using the same zip file.

By the way.. Using 9.0.5,9.5.1,9.6dp2 I have not seen a CTD is a while.

3) Another thing I've seen is IDE locking up when exiting. Open a small
stack(GUI and code) and maybe make a change or two then close the IDE after
saving the changes. The IDE closes a stack window / tool pallet or two then
opens up a script editor window named "new script editor 1". Then the IDE
goes into a tight loop and I have to stop the process. This happens once
every 30 to 50 times I use the IDE.

I can get a recipe for #1 and #2 but 3 is random and happens with any stack.

Annoying yes. The the amount of productivity I get out is still far beyond
any other language I know and still outweighs the time it take to do the
occasional bug report.

Ralph DiMola
IT Director
Evergreen Information Services
rdimola at evergreeninfo.net