MT3 Expert bugs

My broker, FXDD, is still on v3.86 build 6414. I'm a seasoned software developer and am trying to write some experts but am having all sorts of "strange" issues. Specifically, global variables won't set properly at times. Another issue is variable initialization. If I declare a var as MyVar("MYVALUE") it won't hold MYVALUE in memory. I have to set it like MyVar="MYVALUE". Also on an inline if statement the logic won't work all of the time. Like:

if (X>Y) then MyVar = "MYVALUE". This doesn't always work. To make it work I have to do:

if (X>Y) then
{
MyVar = "MYVALUE";
}

Another thing that is very annoying is the whole File routines. They are useless. Sometimes I can write a to a file, sometimes it looks like the write was OK, but there is nothing in the file. Sometimes I get a bad file handle error.

Some of these things I can work around (like the IF-THEN example). My question is IS there a list of known programming issues with MT3 and their work-arounds? Are there any patches? What about some advice on debugging? I just set a bunch of print messages to debug. Is there a better way?

I know upgrading to MT4 is the ideal, but until my broker upgrades I'm stuck.

Thanks,
Scott