CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javadebugging
Strawberry
Strawberry

Reputation: 67958

What are effective methods/tools to aid in debugging Java?

In PHP, I always just var_dump'd everything. In Java, when I'm debugging a program such as implement BFS. I am finding it extremely difficult to just System.out.println everything, especially when there are tons of loops.

I think I have a poor practice and workflow. I could use JUnit, but when I have to go through every step to make sure every little thing is true or false and if variables are setting properly and checking each and every section, I am not sure if JUnit is any faster than System.out.println.

I am sure I might be doing something wrong, so I wanted to ask the community for better practices.

Edit: I use Eclipse, just to let you guys know. However, I don't know how to utilize every aspect of it. I just write code, debug, and compile. Sometimes JUnit, when I am required to use it.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 227

Answers (4)

HJess
HJess

Reputation: 63

I'm still quite new to Java coding, but I've found it very helpfully to create an Debug class and calling it instead of doing a lot of System.out.println calls.

My debuging class look something like this..

Debug.java

   public class Debug {
    private static boolean debugActive = true;
    public static void setDebug(boolean debug) {
        Debug.debugActive = debug;
    }

    public static void print(String str) {
        if (debugActive) {

            StackTraceElement[] stacktrace = Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace();
            StackTraceElement e = stacktrace[2];
            String methodName = e.getMethodName();

            System.out.print("[" + e + "]");
            System.out.print(" => " + str);
            System.out.println(" <= ");

        }
    }

    public static void print(int x) {
        print(x + "");
    }
}

So calling it from the program

DbIniParser.java ..

   [...]
    Debug.print(DB_User);
    Debug.print(DB_Pass);
    Debug.print(database);
    Debug.print(host);
    Debug.print(port);
    [...]

Main program.

Debug.setDebug(true);
DbIniParser ini = new DbIniParser();
ini.readFile();
Debug.setDebug(false);

This provides a output as..

Console output

[hospitalcase.DbIniParser.readFile(DbIniParser.java:35)] => hjess <= 
[hospitalcase.DbIniParser.readFile(DbIniParser.java:36)] => password <= 
[hospitalcase.DbIniParser.readFile(DbIniParser.java:37)] => myFunnyDatabase <= 
[hospitalcase.DbIniParser.readFile(DbIniParser.java:38)] => localhost <= 
[hospitalcase.DbIniParser.readFile(DbIniParser.java:39)] => 3306 <=

By using a class itself the output could be changed to be a log file or something else.

Please mind I've only done programming in 3 months so this way might not be optimal, but I've found it quite useful instead for doing System.out.print every time.

Upvotes: 1

Puce
Puce

Reputation: 38152

I strongly recommend to use an IDE such as NetBeans or Eclipse. They come with a debugger.

Upvotes: 0

rsp
rsp

Reputation: 23373

Instead of just printing debug information to the console, use a logging system like log4j.

This offers dynamic loglevels and logging can be send to a set of rotating files through configuration. (I.e. log lots of data while developing, and only log the errors in production without having to change the course code.)

Upvotes: 2

Arnon Rotem-Gal-Oz
Arnon Rotem-Gal-Oz

Reputation: 25929

I suggest you start with "Using the eclipse debugger"

Upvotes: 3

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