Why is debugging better in an IDE? [closed]

Answer 1

Wauw, do I like this question. I never dared to pose it...

It seems that people just have different ways of working. For me what works best is:

• Having a solid mind model of my code, including memory management
• Using instrumentation (like print statements) to follow what's happening.

I've earned my living programming for over 40 years now, working at non-trivial technical and scientific applications in C++ and Python daily, and I have the personal experience that a debugger doesn't help me a bit.

I don't say that's good. I don't say that's bad. I just want to share it.

Answer 2

In addition to much of what the other posters have said, I really like stepping through one line at a time along with the computer, as it forces me to think about one line at a time. Often I will catch the bug without even looking at variable values simply because I am forced to look at it as I click the 'next line' button. However, I don't think my answer will help you, Bill, because you probably have this skill already.

As far as learning resources go, I haven't used any -- I just explore all the menus and options.

Answer 3

I think debugging using print statements is a lost art, and very important for every developer to learn. Once you know how to do that, certain classes of bugs become much easier to debug that way than through an IDE. Programmers who know this technique also have a really good feel of what's useful information to put in a log message (not to mention you'll actually end up reading the log) for non-debugging purposes as well.

That said, you really should know how to use the step-through debugger, since for a different class of bugs it is WAY easier. I'll leave it up to the other excellent answers already posted to explain why :)

Answer 4

Advantages of a debugger over a printf (note not an IDE debugger but any debugger)

1. Can set watchpoints. This is one of my favourite ways of finding memory corruptions

2. Can debug a binary that you can't recompile at the moment

3. Can debug a binary that takes a long time to recompile

4. Can change variables on the fly

5. Can call functions on the fly

6. Doesn't have the problem where debug statemenets are not flushed and hence timing issue can not be debugged acuratly

7. Debuggers help with core dumps, print statements dont'

Answer 5

This is what I use most on VS.NET debugging windows:

• Call stack, which is also a great way to figure out someone else's code
• Locals & Watches.
• Immediate window, which is basically a C# console and also lets me change variable contents, initialize stuff etc.
• The ability to skip a line, set the next statement to be executed somewhere else.
• The ability to hover over variables and have a tool-tip showing me their values.

In summary, it gives me a 360 degree view of the state of my executing code, not just a small window.

Never found a book teaching this kind of stuff, but then again, it seems to be quite simple, it's pretty much WYSIWYG.

Answer 6

It's not just debugging. An IDE helps you build better software faster in a lot of ways:

• refactoring tools
• intellisense to make api's more discoverable, or remind of exact spelling/case of familiar items(not much use if you've used the same system for 15 years, but that's rare)
• save on typing by autocompleting variable and class names
• find certain kinds of errors before you even start to compile
• Automatically jump to variable/method/class declarations/definitions, even if they're not in the same file or folder.
• Break on unhandled and handled exceptions

I could go on.