Breakpoints are one of the most used debugging techniques. Mastering their use in your favorite Integrated Development Environment (IDE) will greatly increase your productivity.
This article provides guidance on using breakpoints within Visual Studio.
What is a breakpoint?
A breakpoint is a marker, usually represented by a small red dot in the left margin of the editor window, that is set manually in a specific line of the code. When the program reaches the marker during execution, it pauses before executing the code on that line. This pause allows the programmer to inspect the state of variables values and flow of execution.
When to use it?
When you encounter unexpected behavior or errors in your program, setting breakpoints at critical points can be helpful. However, when you need to test a specific scenario or if a loop failure occurs, instead of hitting the breakpoint marker several times, you can optimize your debugging process by using conditional breakpoints.
Here´s a simple example of an iteration code in C#. According to the image below, the program would hit the breakpoint all 100 times during execution.
How to set conditional breakpoints?
After setting the breakpoint on the line you want to inspect:
Right click on the breakpoint;
Choose 'Conditions' option;
Enter your condition
Then, the program will make an execution stop only if the added condition is met. This significantly reduces debugging time, enabling quicker bug resolution.
In conclusion, conditional breakpoints provide a flexible approach to debugging complex code, enhancing the manageability of debugging challenges. Embrace this powerful new feature to your debugger toolkit to elevate your development skills.
Happy debugging!🎉
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