Virtutech Testing and Debugging Survey
Virtutech conducted its annual testing and debugging survey at the recent Embedded Systems Conference to gain insight into trends and patterns affecting the embedded software development community. This year’s survey, completed by 354 embedded industry developers and IT decision-makers, determined that debugging and multicore design continue to be the most pertinent challenges today.
In the survey, respondents emphasized the need for innovative tools and techniques to reduce time-to-market and create a high-quality end product. Here are some of the findings from the survey:
- 56% of respondents cited debugging as the most time-consuming aspect of their work — more than double any other single task.
- Debugging continues to be the most problematic and costly phase of the software development lifecycle.
- 68% of respondents reported that they are involved with at least one multicore or multiprocessor project.
- 20% are spending the majority of their time working on multicore or multiprocessor systems.
- Nearly six out of 10 respondents (59%) reported that their current debugging tools do not provide support for multicore development. Development and debugging technologies have not kept adequate pace with adoption.
According to the survey, the most difficult aspects of debugging in a multicore environment are:
- Lack of determinism/bug reproducibility (33% of respondents)
- Breakpoints do not freeze the system (28%)
- Thread locking (27%)
More info: Virtutech »
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