From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: using the debugger Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:07:28 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Message-ID: References: <87mxk13saf.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> <6ce07a3c-aa8f-4492-8976-3a2a7fc3a890@i14g2000yqe.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1306267757 12161 80.91.229.12 (24 May 2011 20:09:17 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 20:09:17 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue May 24 22:09:13 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QOxuj-0006QG-5L for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 May 2011 22:09:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:52140 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QOxui-0002eT-K3 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 May 2011 16:09:12 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!panix!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 49 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: panix2.panix.com Original-X-Trace: reader1.panix.com 1303607248 28946 166.84.1.2 (24 Apr 2011 01:07:28 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:07:28 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test76 (Apr 2, 2001) Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:186711 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:81055 Archived-At: In article , Drew Adams wrote: >> Just curious -- why do you prefer debug over edebug? > ... ... > >--- > >FWIW, the one improvement, in particular, that I wish someone would make to the >debugger (the debugger I use) is to have an option to control what `d' does on a >macro or special form call - or to provide another key, say `s', that does what >I want. > >I, and I suspect most users, typically want to use `c' when I get to a macro >call, because I don't care to drill down through the macro expansion - I trust >it most of the time. But sometimes I don't notice in time and I hit `d' >instead. > >Without such an enhancement I need to pay a little more attention, to stop >hitting `d' and hit `c' when I get to a macro call. In particular, `dolist' and >similar are a pain because they involve two levels of macros, for `dolist' and >for `block'. > >Sure, when you catch yourself already started down the rabbit hole you can hit >`c' and `d' a bit to recuperate, but the point is that you have to pay a little >attention during a part of the process that should be a no-brainer (autopilot). > >I filed an enhancement request for this back in 2009: >http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=3466, >but no one ever responded. Maybe someone on this list will feel like submitting >a patch to improve the debugger this way. ;-) > > Never used any emacs debugger -- but would a "backup" or "undo traversal step" help? Now, what it would do about variables you'd modified -- maybe it could undo those too (one step at a time, backing up). (Or might one or the other of the debuggers already have such a feature?) Looks to me like it'd be very helpful... David