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

[Malcolm Matalka <mmatalka@gmail.com>]

John Whitington <john@coherentgraphics.co.uk> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Like, I suspect, many people, my method has always been to insert Printfs, and stare at code until I find the problem. In fact, the
> ocaml.org page on ocamldebug says:
>
> "In fact, for complex programs, it is likely the case that the programmer will use explicit printing to find the bugs, since this
> methodology allows the reduction of the trace material: only useful data are printed and special purpose formats are more suited to get the
> relevant information, than what can be output automatically by the generic pretty-printer used by the trace mechanism."
>
> So, I ask: What do you use for debugging small and large OCaml programs? If not a debugger, why not? What problems prevent it? How does your
> debugging process differ when writing OCaml compared with other
> languages you use?

I do not use a debugger, but I think it's mostly due to ignorance.  I
just don't know how to use a debugger effectively in any language.

That being said, I write a lot of asynchronous code which I have found
difficult to use a debugger in pretty much any language other than
Erlang.

Also, if something weird is happening in an place I don't expect, I
often try to hoist that up to the type system which can, with
discipline, inform me of when I was forgetting to handle a situation.


>
> John
>
> -- 
> John Whitington
> Director, Coherent Graphics Ltd
> http://www.coherentpdf.com/