On 6/18/2014 5:39 PM, Joakim wrote:
Software pumps data in, operates on it, and pumps new data out: why don't we have proper visualization tools for those data flows? Only being able to freeze program state and inspect it at repeated snapshots in time with a debugger is so backwards:
That's why I inadvertently learned to love printf debugging. I get to see the whole "chart" at one. Granted, it's in a bit of a "The Matrix"-style "only comprehensible if you know what you're looking at" kind of way. Actual GUI graphs would certainly be nice. But all the data's there at once, so no need for constant fast-fowarding and rewindi...oh wait, that's right, debuggers can't rewind either. ;)
Honestly, I *have* used and loved debuggers, and I still appreciate them. I do think they're great tools. But...I rarely use them anymore: After several years of being forced into printf-debugging (or worse!!) for various reasons, every time I go back to a debugger I feel like I'm debugging with my hands tied behind my back. Or rather, finding a needle in a haystack using only a microscope that's stuck on max magnification and can only ever move to the right. And it's exactly because of the debugger's "temporal blinders" - the inability to ever see more than one *instant* at a time.
