My ideal environment would have the ability to pause at a certain point, saving the state. Then I want to run to a another point (maybe only a few lines to a couple dozen lines down) and see the variable values and results in between.
Basically I want to live code with some defined input to section off parts of the program and still be able to iterate quickly by seeing results every time what I am typing will compile.
I also want to be able to visualize more data than just single values. I want to be able to see results of flat arrays, and write custom visualizers for more complex data structures. I have actually done a lot in this area, essentially by having a window in a separate thread that I can pass closures to (that run openGL functions on their data to draw it). This works incredibly well to let you see your software run. I don't know how I would have been able to write and debug some very difficult programs without it.
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I absolutely think so.
My ideal environment would have the ability to pause at a certain point, saving the state. Then I want to run to a another point (maybe only a few lines to a couple dozen lines down) and see the variable values and results in between.
Basically I want to live code with some defined input to section off parts of the program and still be able to iterate quickly by seeing results every time what I am typing will compile.
I also want to be able to visualize more data than just single values. I want to be able to see results of flat arrays, and write custom visualizers for more complex data structures. I have actually done a lot in this area, essentially by having a window in a separate thread that I can pass closures to (that run openGL functions on their data to draw it). This works incredibly well to let you see your software run. I don't know how I would have been able to write and debug some very difficult programs without it.