.....And to the memory chip vendors that sell the silicon into which the mindless streams of trace data are stored!!!


Most often the trace concept is useless becasue either....

1) The trace memory ran out and started to refill long before the system was stopped thus completely erasing what may have been useful to look at.

2) Qualifiers that are placed on the memory storage criteria, in an attempt to capture just the critical stuff, are usually wrong for the problem one is trying to go after.

3) The memory content is next to impossible to unthread.


I am going to out on the limb and sticking my neck out here to say this........but I believe that trace capability is also something bought by engineers that are unsure of the tasks they are setting out to do. On the other hand if you use good code design techniques, modular coding practices, and have confidence in your ability to debug you would never even probably bother open the manual to figure out how to use the trace capability even if the manager slapped it down on your desk in front of you.

Michael Karas