Perl Debugger Pocket Reference

Most Perl programmers know about the Perl debugger--the nifty little built-in utility that you can use to fully debug any programs that you write. Inside the interactive debugger environment, you're prompted for commands that let you examine your source code, set breakpoints, dump out function call stacks, change values of variables, and much more. It's so convenient that some programmers run it just to test out Perl constructs as they create a program. But although it's on their radar, not many Perl programmers take the time to master the debugger. That's where the Perl Debugger Pocket Reference comes in.

This little book provides a quick and convenient path to mastery of the Perl debugger and its commands. Written by a core member of the Perl debugger development team, it's an ideal quick reference to debugger commands, as well as a detailed tutorial on how to get started. The Perl Debugger Pocket Reference provides complete coverage in a conveniently small package.

Maybe you write code so clean you never have to look at it twice. Or perhaps you'd rather focus your energies on writing clean code, rather than learning about the debugger. But if you need to learn about the Perl debugger in a hurry, the Perl Debugger Pocket Reference is the book you'll want to have close by. And you can always keep a copy on hand to share with programmers who need it more than you do.

O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among programmers everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new Perl Debugger Pocket Reference will get you back on the right track.

What Is the Perl Debugger?; Why Use the Debugger?; Unfamiliar Territory; About This Book; The linecounter.pl Script; Shell Truncated Output; Versions of Perl; Delving Deeper; Conventions; Acknowledgments and Disclaimers; Before You Debug Check Your Syntax; Use strict; Warnings; Diagnostics Taint Mode; A Debugger Tutorial; Starting a Session; A Simple CGI Debugger Session; Debugger Commands; Help and Quitting Examining Data; Listing Code and Searching; Motion Actions, Breakpoints, and Watchpoints; Perl, Pre-Prompt, and Post-Prompt Commands; Shell and Debugger Commands; Setting Options Debugger Variables; $DB::* Variables; Environment Variables Debugging Options; DB and Devel Namespaces; Runtime Sequence DB::DB(); DB::sub (); Devel Namespace (-d); Useful Modules -DDEBUGGING; References; perldoc; Books; URLs Online Articles; History; GUIs-Graphical User Interfaces Debuggers; Text Editors; Quick Reference; Index