In the early days of programming, it was not uncommon for a programmer to have to deal with a myriad of different types of errors during the development process. Exceptions were one of the first solutions to these errors.
Exceptions are usually grouped into two categories: Errors that occur during execution and Errors that occur during runtime. In this article, we’ll be focusing on error handling in runtime because they are more critical than those seen in execution.
Minidumps are not a new concept, but it is becoming more common with the rise of exceptions and async error handling in our code bases. Minidumps can occur due to many reasons such as external system failures or pipeline failures, but as soon as you know about them you must stop what you are doing and fix them immediately!
What is an Exception and What Causes a Core Dump or Minidump?
An exception is essentially a crash that usually occurs due to a memory-related issue. A minidump is the process of dumping the contents of memory following an exception from some process or application.
Exceptions occur when there’s a bug, misconfiguration, or other software error in the application’s code. An exception might also be caused by hardware failure or powerful hardware errors like overclocking. These errors can cause parts of your system’s RAM (random-access memory) to become corrupted and unusable, and it can cause problems like blue screens (BSOD) or crashes during booting up of your PC.
The reason why these exceptions are called core dumps is because they contain information about the state of your computer’s operating system and hardware before this particular crash.
What are the Most Common Reasons for a Core Dump or Minidump?
In computer programming, a core dump is an unexpected data output that usually causes some type of error on the PC. It can be caused by a software bug or hardware malfunction. The term “core” refers to the CPU chip of the PC’s motherboard.
A minidump is where you are experiencing a slow and steady decline in performance or are encountering errors from which the system cannot recover when you restart it. It can also be caused by a virus infection or malware infection on your computer.
The most common reasons for core dumps and minidumps include:
-executive logs out of Windows
-system goes into power-saving mode
-user shuts down laptop while working on document files
-compress, delete, or overwrite files with no backups
Conclusion
As a developer, you should be focused on making your code bug-free and bug-tolerant. This is not always easy for many developers who find it hard to time their work with the development process. To save time and reduce bugs, here are some tips that will help you keep your code exception-safe:
When you release a new feature into production, it’s important to make sure that your code isn’t riddled with bugs. You should run linters before deploying your code in order to identify any potential bugs. Linters are programs that scan your code for common errors such as syntax errors, misspellings, and other programming mistakes.