From: Jim Phillips <JPxxxxx@...>
Date: 2007-08-13T11:34:58+09:00
Subject: Ruby debuggers?

I am far enough into learning Ruby so that I need to track down problems
that can't be solved just by examining the source.  So far I have been
using the built-in debugger that comes with Ruby, which works fine, but 
has all the drawbacks of the Perl debugger - i.e., it is command line
driven and slow.

I prefer the command line on most stuff except for debugging. There just
isn't enough room for data to fit on the screen and what is there scrolls
off fast.  Piping it to an editor or file captures everything, but that
requires another operation to inspect and is always after-the-fact.

Perl has a great little tool in the ptkdb debugger that is a gui and
lets you grasp a much bigger part of the problem you are trying to solve
and in real time, so to speak. Alas, while TK works with Ruby pretty good,
the debug tool doesn't.

Question.  Is there a more sophisticated troubleshooting tool for Ruby
available yet (for Linux)?  I been googling without much luck so far,
although on a 24k dialup it may be several months before I get to the
bottom of the list.  (In this part of the country you have to pay AT&T
extra for broadband - that is to say, 56k dialup).

Thanks all
Jum Phillips