I took the course the book was designed for at CMU (and with the guys who wrote it, all CS majors have to take it), everyone on campus always knew when &quot;bomb-lab&quot; was happening because people would post on FB &quot;Just defused a bomb&quot;, confusing anyone who was new around =P<p>Not setting off the bomb is pretty easy as long as you remember to set a break point right before the &quot;explode&quot; function before every gdb run. Super satisfying when you get through all six stages. (there&#x27;s also a secret bonus stage)<p>The book&#x2F;course is the best designed one I&#x27;ve ever seen for the subject matter. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in taking it on, and on taking any course that is based on it.