Chapter 9. Debugging Visual LISP Code

The programs do not always behave the way we want. When we get different results from those expected or the program halts because of an error, discovering what went wrong can be very difficult. VLISP offers a series of tools that can assist in the debugging process in order to find and solve any problems our programs may present.

We will study the main debugging tools available in the Visual LISP IDE such as:

• Syntax checking.
• Break Points and loops.
• The Animate option.
• The Symbol Service.
• The Watch window.
• The Trace Stack.

We must not forget the other resources available in the editor itself, such as colored syntax (just seeing a function name that does not turn blue means it is misspelled), detection of parentheses closure, syntax checking, automatic formatting or the introduction of form closing comments. Not to mention the subsequent verification which is done when compiling the program, as we will see further on. All this constitutes an environment that aids us in the development of complex applications.

This Chapter includes the following sections:

9.1. Finding the error's origin.
9.2. The debugging session.
9.3. Data inspection tools.
9.4. Error tracing.
9.5. Summary

Your questions or comments about this Chapter's contents are welcome!

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