[comp.os.msdos.programmer] BoundsChecker

sorrow@oak.circa.ufl.edu (06/14/91)

Has anyone had experience using Soft-ICE or BoundsChecker by Nu-Mega
technologies.  They promise the world (memory write protection, etc.)
and look real good, and even have a money back guarantee, but...

Brian
/*
Brian Hook -- MS-DOS Programmer for Contract
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Seamus, that's my dog...I saw her today at the reception...sorry, sixTEEN
inches....better save the women and children first...but this one goes to 11!
..anymore of that plutonium nyborg?....there can be only ONE!....like a 
finger pointing to the moon....ease the seat back...one day closer to death
*/

ekalenda@cup.portal.com (Edward John Kalenda) (06/15/91)

>Has anyone had experience using Soft-ICE or BoundsChecker by Nu-Mega
>technologies.  They promise the world (memory write protection, etc.)
>and look real good, and even have a money back guarantee, but...

I've used Soft-ICE extensively. It's the only thing I've tried that
has let me debug TSRs, device drivers, and ROM BIOS bugs. The latest
version is very similar to CodeView in terms of interface, though it
doesn't support the mouse. The source level debugging and reading of
debug info from the .EXE are really nice.

I haven't used BoundsChecker yet so I can't comment on it.

The biggest hassle about Soft-ICE is that I can't use other 386 Control
Programs like QEMM-386 and some disk cache and RAM disk programs don't
co-exist in extended memory correctly when Soft-ICE is loaded. The
programs which use expanded memory do seem to work and Soft-ICE includes
a built-in EMS emulator.

Ed
ekalenda@cup.portal.com

rclark@concour.cs.concordia.ca (CLARK richard) (06/15/91)

In article <43307@cup.portal.com> ekalenda@cup.portal.com (Edward John Kalenda)
writes:
>
>I haven't used BoundsChecker yet so I can't comment on it.

I haven't used it either, but it received a "Best of 1990" Award from
PC Magazine. (PC Magazine, January 15, 1991).  In a brief review in that
issue, Salvatore P. Ricciardi states :

(this is an excerpt )

     The 80386 and 80486 have spawned a number of programs dedicated to making
use of their superior capabilities.  If you're a programmer, the [price 
omitted] Bounds Checker may prove to be the one dearest to your heart.
     Bounds-Checker helps you find memory overwrites - bugs in your code ...

     When an out-of-bounds access occurs, Bounds-Checker flags it immediately
and pops up a screen display pinpointing the line in your program that 
caused the problems...  You can add ... to the exception file to that lists
these "valid" accesses.

... If you're developing DOS software on a 286, Bounds-Checker is your reason
to upgrade.


The program received a full review in PC Magazine, July 1990, page 48.




--

rick clark (rclark@concour.cs.concordia.ca)
Concordia University, Montreal.

pvr@wang.com (Peter Reilley) (06/19/91)

sorrow@oak.circa.ufl.edu writes:

>Has anyone had experience using Soft-ICE or BoundsChecker by Nu-Mega
>technologies.  They promise the world (memory write protection, etc.)
>and look real good, and even have a money back guarantee, but...

	I have used Soft-ICE to debug a TSR and found it to be excellent.
It helped me find bugs that would have been hopelessly hidden without
it.

-- 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Peter Reilley ..... pvr@wang.com <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
                     Well, that about says it.