Re: [Caml-list] Do you use a debugger with OCaml? If not, why not?

[Nils Becker <nils.becker@bioquant.uni-heidelberg.de>]

hi,

> The use of a debugger usually indicates that a programmer lost a
> control of its own program and has no idea whats going on.

this is one reason, but it is also completely valid to debug algorithms
i.e. find bugs in the logic of an algorithm, not the implementation.
these are not caught by the type system. in simulation code for example,
mutable state is often the most natural representation, and it is
sometimes necessary to follow a mutable value through the algorithm to
verify.

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

when comparing with python, i often use the python debugger as integral
part of checking the correctness of the algorithm, and i have full
access to all values, and even evaluation of code, which makes that
easy. i feel in control. that said, often i need to use it to find nasty
bugs due to type-unsafety.

in ocamldebug, i find it great that i can back-step. however, the need
to work so much to install printers for my types is a severe drawback;
what's worse is that it seems to be even impossible to install printers
for types defined inside functor bodies. so, i sometimes hit a brick
wall with ocamldebug, which is frustrating, and i feel like i'm fighting
the system rather than using a productive tool.

for me, some way to auto-print some crude representation of _all_ types
in the debugger would help a lot.

n.