Building a Debugger • Sy Brand & Tim Misiak • GOTO 2025

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/375 Sy Brand - Author of "Building a Debugger" and C++ Developer Advocate at Microsoft @SyBrandPlusCats Tim Misiak - Systems Engineer at Datadog and Co-Founder of Augmend @timmisiak RESOURCES Sy https://bsky.app/profile/tartanllama.xyz https://mastodon.social/@TartanLlama https://x.com/tartanllama https://github.com/TartanLLama https://stackoverflow.com/users/496161/tartanllama https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sy-brand-36520857 https://sybrand.ink https://blog.tartanllama.xyz Tim https://bsky.app/profile/timdbg.com https://x.com/timmisiak https://github.com/timmisiak https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-misiak https://www.timdbg.com Links https://dwarfstd.org https://lldb.llvm.org https://rr-project.org https://undo.io https://youtu.be/MkbgZMCTUyU https://youtu.be/qmh7Uppd3x0 https://youtu.be/HAFrggEDr5U https://youtu.be/jIZpKpLCOiU https://youtu.be/rZxIzrjvSGg https://youtu.be/30jNsCVLpAE DESCRIPTION Tim Misiak interviews Sy Brand about their book "Building a Debugger". Sy, who works as a Microsoft C++ developer advocate with a background in GPU compilers and debuggers, discusses how implementing a debugger offers profound insights into computer systems. The conversation explores the unexpected complexities of debugging fundamentals like stack unwinding and code stepping, comparing approaches between Windows and Linux systems. They examine how debugging interfaces have evolved over time and the challenges posed by backward compatibility and language evolution. Sy highlights areas for future advancement in debugging, particularly time travel debugging for non-deterministic issues and better tools for debugging optimized code. Throughout the interview, both experts share fascinating technical details that reveal why debugger implementation serves as an excellent path to deeper understanding of operating systems and hardware. TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:46 How understanding systems unlocks better software 11:42 Rethink debugging: Fixing ptrace, DWARF & adapting to modern languages 21:03 Stepping through code: Unexpected complexity 32:38 The future of debugging 37:06 Outro RECOMMENDED BOOKS Sy Brand • Building a Debugger • https://amzn.to/4cWWr84 Charles Humble • Professional Skills for Software Engineers • https://www.conissaunce.com/professional-skills-shortcut Cathy O'Neil • Weapons of Math Destruction • https://amzn.to/42jYkba Jonathan B. Rosenberg • How Debuggers Work • https://amzn.to/3SnFHgv Nora Sandler • Writing a C Compiler • https://amzn.to/3Z6SMhU https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Debugger #Debugging #SystemsProgramming #Linux #X64 #X86 #MicroProcessor #StackUnwinding #WriteADebugger #UndoDB #LLDB #ptrace #DWARFstd #Cpp #Rustlang #Csharp #TodayInTech #SoftwareDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering #Programming #SyBrand #TimMisiak #BookClub CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1