debugging and bad c code

[call_me_anything]

I was wondering if there was a technique for understanding a huge code
that was written about a decade back, has no coding conventions
followed and has bad variable/function names.

GDB/DDD are fine but I do not want to dig into each and every function
and find out what is the meaning of each
and every variable.

The code uses a few structs also with a good deal of data put into
each.

Re-writing the entire code is not a possibility.
I need something to understand-ablify the existing code.

At the least, how can I write a macro/function that will print all the
contents of a structure given
an instance of the structure.

[Roland Pibinger]

On 27 Feb 2007 01:46:12 -0800, "call_me_anything" wrote:

>I was wondering if there was a technique for understanding a huge code
that was written about a decade back, has no coding conventions
followed and has bad variable/function names.

First of all, demand a rise in salary.

>Re-writing the entire code is not a possibility.
I need something to understand-ablify the existing code.

A book (http://www.spinellis.gr/codereading/) may help or a commercial
tool (http://www.scitools.com/products/und...p/product.php).

Good luck,
Roland Pibinger

[=?iso-8859-1?q?Erik_Wikstr=F6m?=]

On Feb 27, 10:46 am, "call_me_anything" <[e-mail]:

I was wondering if there was a technique for understanding a huge code
that was written about a decade back, has no coding conventions
followed and has bad variable/function names.

GDB/DDD are fine but I do not want to dig into each and every function
and find out what is the meaning of each
and every variable.

The code uses a few structs also with a good deal of data put into
each.

Re-writing the entire code is not a possibility.
I need something to understand-ablify the existing code.

At the least, how can I write a macro/function that will print all the
contents of a structure given
an instance of the structure.

A bit OT, but doxygen might be able to help. Have not used it much
myself but I think it will be able to generate diagrams of which
functions calls which etc.

--
Erik Wikström