Preparing for debugging

The debugger can operate on any executable file, but to get themost out of your debugger, you should prepare for debugging by creating an executablefile with symbolic debug information.

Note: Due to operating system limitations Win16 applicationsmay not be debugged with the debugger on Windows 95/98/Me.  Win16 applicationsmay be debugged under the Windows NT operating system.  Win32 applications canbe debugged under both operating systems.

The Modula-2 and Ada95 compilers can provide any or all of thefollowing information to the debugger:

Source versus machine level debugging

The debugger is designed to operate at two different levels.

When debugging at machine level, you do not need any debugginginformation.  You cannot see the source code of your program, and cannot referto variables and procedures by name.  You can view the machine code of the programand step through the program and perform all debugger functions using absolute addresses. But this is the only level at which you can operate if you have an executablefile with no sources and no symbolic debug information.

When debugging at source level, you must include symbolic debuginformation in your executable.  With symbolic debug information, you can stepthrough your program by source lines, and refer to variables, types, and proceduresfrom your program by name.  This is by far the preferred method when you havethe sources to the program.

Including symbolic debug information

The help for the development environment provides full informationabout generating debuggable programs.

Debug information from other languages

The debugger can use information output from object modules producedby an assembler or another compiler that supports the CodeView style debugging information.

Refer to the documentation of your assembler or compiler to determinewhether it can produce CodeView debug information, and follow the instructions onhow to enable that information.