#Week 62 — What is a debugger?

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outer horizonBOT
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Question of the Week #62

What is a debugger?

novel scaffoldBOT
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A debugger is a tool that helps developers diagnose programming problems. It allows to view what happens when running a specific program.
If the program is started in debug mode (or if a debugger is attached), it is possible to create breakpoints. When the program executes a line with a breakpoint, it will suspend execution and wait for the developer to inspect and resume the program.
While suspended, the developer can:

  • view current (local) variables and other program state
  • continue execution until the next breakpoint
  • execute the next line/statement i.e. continue execution and suspend again when the next line is hit - this operation is often called Step Over
  • go into the method called in the current line and suspend execution there - this operation is often called Step Into
  • continue execution until the current method is existed - this operation is often called Step Return or Step Out

Debuggers are typically integrated into IDEs allowing developer to quickly see what happens within the program.

📖 Sample answer from dan1st
novel scaffoldBOT
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A debugger is a software tool used by developers to identify and fix errors, or bugs, in computer programs. It allows them to track the execution flow of a program, inspect variables, and analyze the program's state.

For example, imagine you're building a web application, and there's a part of the code that's supposed to display a user's profile picture. However, when you run the application, the picture doesn't show up. Using a debugger, you can step through the code line by line, inspecting variables and identifying where the problem lies.

Submission from ig.imanish
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Debugger is a feature in java which helps us to remove our logical errors. It works by showing us each steps one by one from the breakpoint/stage where the break point is set by the programmer.

Submission from prince_007_
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Hello I think debugger is a tool that allows you to track the code step by step and find bugs like that