[Lazarus] debugger feature request created

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

2009/10/1 waldo kitty <wkitty42 at windstream.net>:
> the 3rd party coder's stances... the major thing i see is that FPC/Lazarus
> could easily become the largest coding platform if more assistance was
> available from the built in help stuffs... that's first and foremost...


I agree. The more developers we can attract, then the potential amount
of contributes could increase too. I do realize that there isn't a
one-to-one relationship with users and contributes, but if I can
comment on my own experience as a user... Before lazarus I knew
nothing about internal IDE works etc... But using Lazarus and being
able to see the code, makes me want to add features I would like to
see - obviously based on my skill level.

As I mentioned before, my abilities to work on (or even understand)
debuggers is near zero. So I try and contribute in other ways. For
example. I see a large need for offline help and a consistent help
format. I have this need in fpGUI and Lazarus applications (including
the Lazarus IDE). I am currently working on a solution which I will
contribute back to the community. I have already worked on a dedicated
help file format (uncompiled and compiled help), and am currently busy
created a help viewer. As a bonus to all, I will be translating the
FPC Programmers and Users Guides to this new help format - as a test
for others to see how it works. As a bigger bonus, the new help system
works like a bookshelf (or library). I can pass multiple help files to
the viewer and it integrates there TOC and Indexes, so searches and
browsing happens across all help files. This features will help
context sensitive help in the IDE a lot - search for IDE help,
Language help, Compiler help etc... all with one F1 key. And have I
mentioned it's damn quick.

So no I can probably not help implement a new debugger (though I will
try if possible), but I do try and contribute in areas I have skills
in. But I can contribute from a users point, by raising issues and
features lacking in the IDE. If we can get a constructed discussion
going, maybe we can generate more interest in fixing the various
shortcomings of the IDE.


Regards,
  - Graeme -


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fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
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