[ENH] Enhanced Debugging Experience (first shot)

Hans-Martin Mosner hm.mosner at cityweb.de
Thu Jul 19 19:48:02 UTC 2001


Hello,
since I think that the Squeak debuger misses some very important
features, I started to implement them. The attached changeset is my
first shot at the issue; it implement the following features:

1. Debugger inspector panes are updated on every step. (that was an easy
one)
2. PC highlighting is improved for loops, blocks, variable assignments.
No more highlighting of the instruction after the loop block
3. Fast step method executes the message using perform:, not by
simulation. Mucho mucho quicker!
4. Exceptions caught within stepped methods are properly displayed in
the debugger. No more 'Cant simulate halt.  Proceed to bypass it.'
5. nonlocal returns are caught.

There are almost certainly bugs in my code; I did not have much time for
testing and so rely on you to find them :-) I have thought about writing
unit test code, but for the most tricky aspects I have difficulties
setting up test cases in my mind, let alone in code...

Some more things I would like to do are:
- a 'reset' menu function which resets the selected context, without
proceeding immediately.
- a 'skip to caret' menu function which steps until the pc is just
before the selected point in the method.
- true breakpoints which can be added and removed without requiring
recompilation, and without losing existing context's state.

However, these will require some more time. If you have any additional
suggestions, please let us discuss them here on the list.

Cheers,
Hans-Martin

Note that the methods in the changeset are carefully arranged not to
break on file-in. If you just file out the changeset, the resulting file
will almost certainly not work. That's what one deserves for messing
with the Parser...
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