soul_guardian
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- HSC
- 2005
does anyone know what a driver is? - in relation to debugging tools that programmers use
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debugging tools - drivers (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter soul_guardian
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arent drivers just shared code?
for example, the *.dll files that are included with Windows. if lots of different programs on your computer perform a similar function, like printing, then its more economic (saves space) to write the code once into a dll file. then whenever Word or Notepad wants to print something, they both access the same code in the dll file ( i think :/ ).
the only way i can see how this relates to debugging, is that using drivers standardises certain processes and modularises tasks. (i wonder if those r real words.. ). and modularising makes it easier to find bugs.
for example, the *.dll files that are included with Windows. if lots of different programs on your computer perform a similar function, like printing, then its more economic (saves space) to write the code once into a dll file. then whenever Word or Notepad wants to print something, they both access the same code in the dll file ( i think :/ ).
the only way i can see how this relates to debugging, is that using drivers standardises certain processes and modularises tasks. (i wonder if those r real words.. ). and modularising makes it easier to find bugs.
Drivers, are short for Test Drivers, just like a driver operates a car, a driver in relation to programming is basically what runs the program, it calls upon all the modules you have in your program. And in terms of debugging, sounds more in terms of testing, drivers are used to test certain components of the system that has been written and needs to be tested so that debugging can occur as well.
just to clarify what winston is saying, it sounds a bit vague to me, but a driver is a temporary module that is written to call (and yes, test) modules below. sometimes, especially in bottom-up design, lower-level modules are written prior to higher level ones. these modules may not run as standalone items and so a driver must be written to run the module. The driver will be a very simple piece of code, that simply calls the procedure/function with any required parameters and may output the parameters to the screen when the procedure has been run. in terms of testing, the driver can be used to thoroughly test the module, even before the higher level module has been written, i.e. various test data can be fed in as parameters and compared with expected output