I once knew a systems programmer who was so good at analyzing dumps that he once diagnosed a bug while watching the dump fly by on the line printer. Not all programmers are as proficient (nor are most bugs as obvious). This book is for them. Application Debugging is a handbook for analyzing MVS ABEND dumps. It explains how to interpret a completion status, evaluate a problem, and navigate through a dump.

Following a brief chapter on how to use the book, there is a 135-page chapter containing system completion code diagnostics. For each SCC there is an explanation of the code and lists of possible causes, relevant dump items, and what to do to explore the problem. Another chapter presents techniques for solving program bugs, such as OCx ABEND diagnostics, common JCL errors, analysis of the O/C/EOV work area, locating VSAM data records, debugging ABENDs under TSO, and ABEND debugging under MVS/XA.

A 55-page chapter is dedicated to explaing the anatomy of an MVS ABEND- or SNAP-generated dump. Each dump component is identified, its function and relation to other components described, and its use in debugging indicated. A general dump format is presented, identifying each component.

The final chapter, on source code debugging, explains how to work from the object code and task management control blocks in the dump back to the program source statement that was involved in the ABEND.

There are many helpful diagrams and tables and a bibliography that includes general, as well as IBM technical, publications. This well-written handbook belongs on the reference shelf of any programmer analyzing an MVS ABEND.