Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!haven!mimsy!rlgvax!scc
From: scc@rlgvax.UUCP (Stephen Carlson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: Which (C) debugger to use?
Message-ID: <1343@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: 1 Oct 90 22:20:33 GMT
References: <2460@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> <998@nlsun1.oracle.nl>
Reply-To: scc@rlgvax.OPCR.ICL.COM (Stephen Carlson)
Organization: ICL North America, OFFICEPOWER Products Center, Reston, VA
Lines: 25

In article <998@nlsun1.oracle.nl> bengsig@oracle.nl (Bjorn Engsig) writes:
>If you have dbx, use that.  The syntax and semantics of sdb are so strangely
>interwoven that it is a pain.  E.g: 'xyz' prints the value of xyz, 'i' issues
>the i command even if there is an i variable.

Two things you could do for sdb:

1) Use 'i/' to print the value of 'i'; after being bitten a few times
   (especially with a variable named 'c'), you learn your lesson.  Just
   like the old C problem: if (a = b) ...

2) Use 'ii' instead of 'i'.  Searching for the variable 'i' in most editors
   is a royal pain.  The vi locution \<i\> is almost as annoying to type as
   it is to have the simple search confound the 'i' variable with, say, the
   'if' and the 'while' keywords.  Searching for 'ii' will not have either
   problem.

On my system, dbx has a fatal flaw: it does not exist.  But given a choice,
since sdb has a higher learning curve than most debuggers (except for adb),
I wouldn't endorse it. 

-- 
Stephen Carlson            | ICL OFFICEPOWER Center
scc@rlgvax.opcr.icl.com    | 11490 Commerce Park Drive
..!uunet!rlgvax!scc        | Reston, VA  22091