Talk:Debugger

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[edit] linkfarm

I'm fixin' to remove the "Notable debuggers" section completely, and replace it with a link to Category:Debuggers, which is more complete, doesn't have linkspam, and so on. Anyone object? -- Mikeblas 02:10, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

agreed: the really few, historic debuggers (GDB, dbx debugger, etc.) can be in the "See also list".

I think that remedy should be added to this list because it was the first multithreaded visualization debugger and

over the next few years it will be the primary interface style that all debuggers go to for debugging large multicore systems, gpus etc. Remedy Debugger May 29, 2008 Peterkimrowe (talk) 23:34, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

the "Remarkable debuggers" section includes tools that have no debugging in their own spec, like Daedalus.

--Hgfernan 14:41, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where to mention debugging formats ?

which do you think is the best place to mension debugging formats like DWARF and stabs ? here or in debugging ?

--Hgfernan 14:35, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposal to rewrite Debugger article

I propose a major rewrite of the Debugger article. Although I find nothing factually wrong with it, and it includes many important points, I feel that it does not read clearly for someone who doesn't already understand what a debugger is, nor does it mention the most essential points up front. A preliminary outline of my proposed rewrite is as follows:

Introduction: A debugger is a computer program which is used as a tool by a programmer to view and control the internal workings of another program at a very detailed level. This second program is said to be running under (the) debugger.

View & control: Controlling execution (single-step, suspend/resume); examining variables during suspension; breakpoints, crashes, exceptions.

Purposes of using a debugger: The term "debugger" is somewhat of a misnomer, in that a debugger does not itself debug code. Although a debugger can be of great assistance to a programmer in debugging code, a debugger is equally useful for analyzing and understanding the operation of an existing program, without any intention of diagnosing bugs. This understanding can be used to document the program, or to modify it. A debugger is a particularly important tool for hackers.

source-level debuggers vs machine-language debugger

ISS

program behavior may differ when running under a debugger (execution speed, timing issues, different compile options)

If there is general agreement to rewrite this article somewhat along these lines, I'll definitely want lots of help from previous contributors. (By the way, this is my very first attempt to contribute to Wikipedia, so please let me know if I've violated protocol.)

Bill Rubin 21:21, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Agreed wholeheartedly; I'd also like to see coverage of:

OS Interfaces

ie, ptrace, procfs, Win32, hardware-level, simulation, etc

Engines

hardware debug registers, how a software breakpoint works

Symbolic Debugging

How opcode-level debugging tools interface with source languages

High Level Languages

Quick overview of how Java and C# provide debugger interfaces

Advanced Techniques

User mode single stepping, hit tracing, detours, hooking

--- tqbf 19:33, 5 November 2007 (UTC)