Why debuggers are bad

Debuggers are useful

  • They make you run an application and inspect variables while you a running the real thing

  • They make you debug code and quickly find bugs


You set a breakpoint somewhere, you run your application, it stops where you want and let you inspect variables and more.

Debuggers are bad

  • They make you debug code instead of writing unit tests

  • They make you debug code instead of writing proper log statements


Conclusion: Debuggers are good when you search for bugs and not as a development practice

Log statements are there forever and let you for instance trace code in a production environment where a debugger is usually not available.

Unit tests are there forever and let you run the same tests that you run in your debugger on and on.

Again: Debuggers are useful but don't abuse them.

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