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From: "David MENTRÉ" <dmentre@linux-france.org>
To: caml-list@inria.fr
Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Do you use a debugger with OCaml? If not, why not?
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 21:23:25 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <565618BD.50105@linux-france.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <5655AE66.6000307@coherentgraphics.co.uk>

Hello,

Le 2015-11-25 13:49, John Whitington a écrit :
> What do you use for debugging small and large OCaml programs?

Mostly Printf and exception backtraces.

> If not a debugger, why not? What problems prevent it? 

Mainly for following reasons:

 1. No support for native code;

 2. UI was unclear to me: difficult to see where I was and where was set
a breakpoint;

 3. Going in the past is a nice idea but does not interact well with I/O
code like networking;

 4. Inability to print immediately your own defined types;

 5. Lack of use vicious circle: when you really need a debugger, your
are not willing to learn a new tool. When your are willing to learn a
new tool, you don't really want to learn a debugger. ;-)

It's a long time that I haven't used the debugger so those reasons might
be not accurate or outdated. :-)


> How does your debugging
> process differ when writing OCaml compared with other languages you use?

I'm using a lot printfs and backtraces in other languages. Probably to
much. :-)

I systematically use the debugger for C language for segfault related
issues, you can hardly use another tool.

Best regards,
david


  parent reply	other threads:[~2015-11-25 20:23 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 21+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2015-11-25 12:49 John Whitington
2015-11-25 13:12 ` Francois Berenger
2015-11-25 13:23 ` Ivan Gotovchits
2015-11-25 15:27   ` Gerd Stolpmann
2015-11-25 16:04     ` Chan Ngo
2015-11-25 13:26 ` Matthieu Dubuget
2015-12-01 12:06   ` Matthieu Dubuget
2015-11-25 14:02 ` Markus Weißmann
2015-11-25 14:05 ` Nils Becker
2015-11-25 15:55 ` Daniel Bünzli
2015-11-26  9:14   ` Leonardo Laguna Ruiz
2015-11-26 10:59     ` Tom Ridge
2015-11-30 17:56       ` Xavier Van de Woestyne
2015-11-25 16:06 ` Maverick Woo
2015-11-25 16:16 ` Anton Bachin
2015-11-25 16:52   ` Michael Grünewald
2015-11-25 18:23     ` Török Edwin
2015-11-25 20:23 ` David MENTRÉ [this message]
2015-11-26 10:11 ` Malcolm Matalka
2015-11-26 10:57 ` Romain Bardou
2015-12-11 18:58 ` Richard W.M. Jones

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