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Does Your Debugger Sing to You?

Posted by michael on from the slash-is-a-sweet-sweet-lullaby dept.

ZahrGnosis writes "TRN Mag Online is carrying an article titled Programming tool makes bugs sing. '[The researchers] set up software that mapped pitch and melodic contour information to structural elements in the programming language Pascal. "[We] aimed to see if information about the structure of Pascal programs could be communicated using such musical phrases".' They even found a practical application for software debugging."

15 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Now by SpanishInquisition · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll program so badly it'll end up sounding like Aphex Twin

    --
    Je t'aime Stéphanie
  2. If debuggers could sing.... by CaffeineAddict2001 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bug in the program - P.U.!
    Somebody wrote it - THATS YOU!

  3. hmmm by citroidSD · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, my debugger _does_ sing as it smites bugs!

    namely:
    "Another one bytes the dust. Another one bytes the dust. And another and and another bug bytes the dust."

    For those of you who need the background music, think Queen, or uh, I guess Weird Al Yankovic

  4. I'm relieved by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Funny

    >They even found a practical application for software debugging

    It's good to know that software debugging has a practical application.

  5. Dancing? by si1k · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if they could create an interface that would allow you to fix bugs by dancing?

    Gnu Debugger, the real Dance Dance Revolution?

    Haha, only parlty serious. Just as we need new ways to "view" information, it could also be helpful to be able to respond in a way that goes beyond the keyboard and mouse.

    --

    byroniverse
  6. Re:Dum, Dum, Da-Dum by Russ+Steffen · · Score: 5, Funny

    You think that's bad? The .NET code samples play The Imperial March.

  7. Good idea, but a better place would be.... by Wintermancer · · Score: 4, Funny

    The musical sound of Windows blue-screening.

    You could even have a nice menu:

    Select your musical preference:

    1) Death-metal guitars

    2) Funeral dirge

    3) Cat-in-heat-at-12:00-am

    Ohhh, the possibilities....

    It would be better than the anguished "NOOOOOO!" frequently heard around the office.

  8. No, but I know a song about a debugger! by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My debugger doesn't sing to me, but I know a guy who sang about a debugger I once used.

    The UPS Debugger Song: "Just One More Hack (and then I'll put it on the 'net)

    Lyrics: Just One More Hack

    Well, I've written a debugger and it suits me just fine
    it'll chase away your problems, turn your water into wine
    it's got so many features, in fact it's bloody clever
    if it can't solve your problem then your problem probably never
    can be solved
    so you might as well pack it on in,
    coz it's the best debugger that there's ever been.

    It's got everything you wanted, everything you desire
    it'll handle fancy structures, set your soul on fire
    it'll indirect through pointers, and catch a falling star
    and if you ask it nicely it'll pop off to the bar
    and tell your friends
    how to solve the problems they're in,
    coz it's the best debugger that there's ever been.

    If you've got a nasty problem and your data structure's bent
    and your pointer's in a tangle with your structure elements
    if you're losing all your memory coz your allocator leaks
    and your girl's getting nasty coz she's not seen you for weeks
    then stoke up Mark's debugger
    you know it'll win,
    coz it's the best debugger that there's ever been....

    - Burt MC Weadon (Mark Wheadon), from MUSENET '92

    (Ah, thank you Google, for the historical reference to first puclication!) UPS - The Song!"

  9. Sure. by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    My debuger sings and my IDE tells me to kill people.


    But wait..... I've said to much.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  10. Sound is a great debug tool! by CrazyBrett · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back when I first started experimenting with full-screen graphics programming, I went through a phase where I could switch screen modes, but not get anything to show up. This meant that I had no way to print diagnostic messages to the screen to figure out when something went wrong. The solution was to play sounds to track the progress of the program and report error conditions.

    "Oh, the program went Boink-Ding and Bloop, but not Clunk... that must mean that palette creation failed!"

  11. I can see it now... by (trb001) · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the news, the VC++ debugger has come under fire from the RIAA for producing melodic tunes that sound very similar to several copyrighted materials.

    "Whoever wrote the code that produced these tunes, we want to find them and bring them to justice." said Hillary Rosen, of the RIAA. "Neither Microsoft, nor the developer in question, has paid royalties to the artists whose songs they have violated. Renegade debuggers must be stopped, for they pose the greatest threat to the artists' intellectual property we've ever seen!"

    <sigh> Fact is often stranger than fiction

  12. Multi-format input is Good by ewanrg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've noticed several folks who seem to think this is silly, dumb, etc. I don't think it is. Think back to the days (if you're old enough) of monochrome displays. Even the addition of a few colors made it easier to process information by taking advantage of human sensitivity to color in our environment. To say that music, or at least sound, could be incorporated makes sense to me.

    Particularly in applications where you're trying to track status over time, having some background that varies with changes can be very helpful (I seem to recall the game Populous using this to good effect to help you get a quick idea of how you were doing overall). In the context of a debugger, having clashing noises that become more melodious as the program gets closer to completion and perhaps also asit comes closer to defined standards seems to bea good motivator.

    Just my .0001 share of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B worth...

  13. Stink-A-Tron by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    (* Bug in the program - P.U.! *)

    That's it! Associate *smells* with bugs.

    Stack_overflow_error ==> Dirty_Socks_Smell

    That will encourage programmers be more careful. Then again, single programmers are probably use to all those smells anyhow.

    Nevermind.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  14. Actually ... by Snork+Asaurus · · Score: 4, Funny
    I hear that all releases of Windows resolve to the Pink Floyd tune "Money". The only detectable difference between them is that with each successive release, the volume is higher.

    With Palladium, I suspect that there will be more variety. Normally, it will still be "Money" at about 120db, but if you click on an mp3, you'll hear the "Dragnet" theme and sounds of wailing police sirens followed by the Monty Python ditty "There's Nothing Quite as Wonderful as Money".

    --
    Sigs are bad for your health.
  15. Everything old is new again by Viadd · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Back in the Apple II/Commodore/Altair days, programmers (who else was there?) used to tune a radio to a dead band and place it by the computer as a debugging aid. You can tell a lot by listening to the EMI that a computer put out. Infinite loops caused a continuous tone, different stages of processing produced different characteristics in the static, etc.

    There were also programs designed just to place music on the radio with their EMI.