The IDA Pro Book, 2nd Edition

Summary

In addition to their obvious uses in tracking down bugs in software, debuggers may also be used as effective reverse engineering tools. For malware and obfuscated code analysis, the ability to utilize a single application for both static and dynamic analysis can save valuable time and the effort required to generate data with one tool that can be analyzed with a second tool. Given the wide variety of debuggers available today, IDA’s debugger may not be the ideal choice for tracking down runtime problems in your applications. However, if you anticipate the need to conduct any reverse engineering of an application or if you simply desire a high-quality disassembly to refer to during the debugging process, IDA’s debugger may serve your needs ...