A short idea for a GSoC project to improve the debugger.
Cheers,
Andrei
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Title: Improving the inspection of expressions in the debugger
Level: beginner/intermediate
Possible mentor: Andrei Chis
Possible second mentor: Nicolas Passerini, Tudor Girba
Description:
The debugger is a central tool in any programming language, as it
helps developers understand the dynamic behaviour of applications.
Furthermore, in Smalltalk, it can also be used to write code and thus
extend applications while they are running.
One important aspect that is missing in the current Pharo debugger, is
the ability to view the value of intermediate expressions involved in
method calls. For example consider the call:
^ self doSomething: (anArray at: 2) with: aStream next onlyIf:
aCondition isValid.
In order to view the values of the expressions (anArray at: 2),
(aStream next) and (aCondition isValid) we have to directly go into
the actual method call. Furthermore, viewing the return value can be
more difficult, if we do not store it into a variable.
The goal of this project is to add support for exploring these kind of
expressions by using dedicated widgets. For example, one alternative
might be adding pseudo variables into inspectors, while another might
consist in using popups that display these values for any expression
selected in the editor.
Technical Details:
The student will have to understand how the debugger works, and will
have to familiarise himself with the new debugging infrastructure.
Also, he'll have to look into at least a framework for building UIs
(Spec/Glamour).
Benefits to the Student:
He will get a deep understanding of how debugging is done, on how the
debugger works and he'll also interact with a framework for building
UIs.
Benefits to the Community:
The community will bet a better debugger, in which values passed and
returned by methods could be easily explored using different widgets.
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On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 12:36 PM, Janko Mivšek <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Pharoers,
>
> Ideas are slowly coming, 14 so far, but this is way below the 30+ in
> previous years. So, stretch your brain, come with some more ideas, which
> will be interesting for potential students and of course useful for our
> community. Students you are again welcome to propose such idea by your
> own. One student idea for now!
>
> Ideas so far: http://gsoc2013.esug.org/ideas
>
> To propose an idea just respond to this post by fulfilling this idea
> template:
>
> Title:
>
> Level: (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
>
> Possible mentor: (if already known)
>
> Possible second mentor: (if already known)
>
> Description
>
> Technical Details
>
> Benefits to the Student
>
> Benefits to the Community
>
> Best regards
> Serge and Janko,
> your this year GSoC admins
>
>
> --
> Janko Mivšek
> Aida/Web
> Smalltalk Web Application Server
> http://www.aidaweb.si
>
