Simple RM Debugger

[HimeWorks]

Write a simple RM debugger.

It should provide variable-tracing functionality, the ability to insert "breakpoints", step-in, step-out, and step-over commands, and filling the console with "useful" information.

Some specifications will need to be designed.

Clearing the console can be done using a simple syscall. Console clearing will be crucial to providing a screen that LOOKS like it's being updated.

system("cls")

Breakpoints will be simulated using a simple method call that you will manually insert into your scripts. For example

def your_method
   @a = 1
   breakpoint
   @a += 2
end

The breakpoint itself will simply be defined like

while !Input.trigger?(:C)
   Graphics.update
   Input.update
   Debugger.update
   ....
end

Which will allow you to inspect variables at that point.
How to actually monitor the variables is a separate issue and will need to be refined.

Monitoring instance variables can be done by getting all instance variables using the instance_variables method and then printing them out. The debugger will contain a list of objects that should be monitored, and you tell the debugger what you want to "watch" or "stop watching"

Stepping in, out, or over will be done at a method-level. All methods will be have some code injected into them to automatically pause and wait for user input.

Some information that may be useful to accomplish this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5513558/executing-code-for-every-method-call-in-a-ruby-module

[Roguedeus]

That would be slick.

[HimeWorks]

I've gotten bored of the idea.

[Roguedeus]

I was thinking about the effort/result ratio earlier... Very few scripts are complex enough to warrant the level of debug this would allow. :)

[HimeWorks]

Yes, plus I rarely use debuggers. Maybe cause I've never actually worked on million-lines-of-code software, but I usually just throw print statements everywhere. Scanning the print statements is a lot faster than stepping through the code.