Re: Gdb

[Jim Blandy <jimb@codesourcery.com>]

Russell Shaw <rjshaw@netspace.net.au> writes:
> After narrowing down a bug location in the last few days, it seems
> all too obvious that gdb needs to be gutted and recast. It can all
> be made simpler and more understandable, thus easier to maintain.

I think you should give it a shot.  I'd love to see a proper set of
libraries for controlling processes and interpreting debugging
information.  You may want to look at Frysk, which is a newer design
taking a very different approach, but addressing many of the same
kinds of problems that GDB tries to.

I've come to think that trying to do involved symbolic processing
(types; scoping; overload resolution; and multiply by ten where C++ is
involved) without garbage collection is like trying to build a pocket
watch out of sawdust and superglue.  Frysk is written in Java.

But I would also say that what you've written here looks to me like a
pretty common reaction of people who've had good experiences writing
their own code to unfamiliar and complex programs; and at least in my
own experience, it often mellows as one works with the code more.