Why use breakpoints

In this case, the trigger breakpoint usually isn't required to stop the program execution and is made non-suspending. Depending on their type and status , breakpoints are marked with the following icons:.

Breakpoints Breakpoints are special markers that suspend program execution at a specific point. Types of breakpoints The following types of breakpoints are available in GoLand: Line breakpoints : suspend the program upon reaching the line of code where the breakpoint was set. Set breakpoints Set line breakpoints Click the gutter at the executable line of code where you want to set the breakpoint. Manage breakpoints Remove breakpoints For non-exception breakpoints: click the breakpoint in the gutter.

Mute breakpoints If you don't need to stop at your breakpoints for some time, you can mute them. To temporarily turn an individual breakpoint off without losing its parameters, you can disable it: For non-exception breakpoints: right-click it and set the Enabled option as required. Configure breakpoints' properties Depending on the breakpoint type, you can configure additional properties which allow you to tailor its operation for specific needs. Intentions reference Intention Description Remove breakpoint Removes the breakpoint at the selected line.

Disable breakpoint Disables the breakpoint at the selected line. Edit breakpoint Opens a dialog with the most used breakpoint properties. Specifies whether to pause the program execution when the breakpoint is hit.

Logging options. When a breakpoint is hit, the following can be logged to the console: "Breakpoint hit" message : a log message like Breakpoint reached Stack trace : the stack trace for the current frame. Remove once hit. Disable until hitting the following breakpoint. Status Description Invalid If it is technically impossible to suspend the program at the breakpoint, the debugger marks it as invalid. Typically you will want debug code that was not optimized or code where only carefully selected optimizations were performed.

The rest of work is then performed by debugger itself. Software breakpoints don't necessarily need special hardware features. Debugger here relies on modifying original binary it's copy that is loaded to memory. When you set a breakpoint, debugger will place special instruction at the location of breakpoint. This special instruction needs to somehow let debugger detect when it this special instruction is executing. Downside of SW breakpoints is that debugger needs to be able to modify running program, which is not possible if program is running from some kind of read-only memory quite common in embedded world.

Hardware breakpoints which need to be supported by CPU implement similar behavior without modifying program binary. This is CPU specific, but usually it lets you to at least define a program address at which execution should hit a breakpoint. CPU continuously compares current PC with these breakpoint addresses and once the condition is matched, it breaks the execution.

Number of these breakpoints is always limited. Employed Russian k 27 27 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. So point 2 is why stuff runs much slower when being debugged?

No, generally program should not run slower when being debugged. Some debug features are an exception, for example software watchpoints, but setting breakpoints should not slow down a program. What you describe is probably a side effect of no-optimization or low optimization required when you are debugging. The example above is shown in reference language but the circle beside line 5 is shown to exemplify the creation of a breakpoint. The breakpoint would force the algorithm to stop running each time the loop reaches line 5.

When a breakpoint is set and triggered the program will display the value of the variables at that point only. This would allow the programmer to check that the value of the total variable updates correctly if the algorithm is altered to accept 1.

In large programs it is not uncommon to use a trace table prior to setting breakpoints. A trace table will highlight the fact that the value is not as it should be and the programmer can then set breakpoints to check specific parts of the program without having to trace each variable all of the time.

Unlike breakpoints, which are line-specific, watchpoints are event-specific and take effect whenever a specified condition is true, regardless of when or where it occurred. An event breakpoint is similar to breakpoint that's set on a specific event rather than a specific line of source code. Copyright Community. The Breakpoints view lists all the breakpoints and watchpoints you've set in your open projects: Figure 1.

The Breakpoints view shows you existing breakpoints and watchpoints that are currently set.