SPLAT!
A source-level debugger for the Apple IIGS
Version: 1.0.2
Requires: ORCA high-level language, 1.5MB RAM
Writing software in a high-level language for the Apple IIGS has always
been something of an adventure. Bugs are hard to track down because GSBug
is ill-suited to high-level languages (which variable does the number $05
represent?), and "print-statement" debugging is slow and tedious. So, if
your program had bugs, you had to fix them the hard way. Until now.
Introducing: Splat!, the debugging tool you've been dreaming of! Splat! is
a "source-level" debugger, meaning that when you step and trace through
your code you see the program lines just as they are in your source code.
Variables are displayed in their o wn window and program output is
captured in yet another window! Splat! utilizes a text-based interface
that works a lot like the standard IIGS desktop interface; this gives you
the speed of text with the ease-of-use of the desktop. Splat! is packed
with powerful features to help you track down and squash those nasty
bugs.
- Supports the ORCA debugging standard, so it works with all the
ORCA langauges, present and future, including C 2.0 and Pascal 2.0.
- Support for structures and arrays; expand them to view individual
elements and fields, and modify them. Follow linked lists with the touch
of a key!
- Profiling allows you to find the slowest subroutines easily and
concentrate on optimizing only where necessary.
- Splat! works in the GNO/ME and ORCA shells, and also outside them.
You can use it to debug Desk Accessories, INITs, and CDEVs as well as
applications.
- Breakpoints and "Auto-Go regions" help you move quickly to the
part of your program that is malfunctioning
- Unique "template" feature lets Splat! intelligently display
structures even with older versions of the ORCA languages. Splat! uses the
GSBug template standard.
GS+ Magazine (Vol 4, No 5) says that Splat! "is more visual and gives you
better control over the debugging process" than any other IIGS debugger.
Not a "professional"?
You may be thinking "This all sounds neat but I'm just beginning to learn
how to program; I'm not a professional programmer". If so, think again:
Splat! will help you learn to program in record time, because it will help
you find those "beginner's bugs" that everyone (yes, even us!) find so
frustrating. Splat! helps beginners understand how their code works
because they can see it work, step by step, right in front of them!
Sample Splat! debugging screen
Examining the contents of an array
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