Prototyping and code development

I have been comparing prototyping of code within Pluto and within VS Code and I have a way of working that seems to be okay. But, I’d like to point out some failings of the tools available:

  1. Debug within VS Code is sadly lacking. When comparing against MATLAB, I find that the debugger lacks the right user-friendliness. I would like the debugger to expose variables within the Julia session in the lower window as though the code was being executed within. I also want the debugger to have access to plotting on the command line, instead of the debug prompt elsewhere. I would like break points in the source listing to be automatically registered with the julia session, and for the julia process to not end when the debugger has completed.

  2. Pluto is really useful for small efforts and quick investigation but I have not really figured out now to be disciplined in the Pluto notebook. The temptation to try out wild stuff in the next cell is too great, and I always end up with a mess that makes it very difficult to differentiate between what I want to achieve and all the stuff I tried out along the way. This is more a statement on my failings than Pluto’s because I see any code I write as a source of future cut-and-paste economics for later.

  3. Pluto could use with a save-as button instead of a move button. But maybe this is because I don’t understand what you can do from the code window. It would also be good if the notebook is oipened in another tap on the browser and the main Pluto menu was retained. If there is a way by which I can specify the browser that Pluto should use in Windows, that would be good as well. If there is one, I apologize for not looking first.

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Some of that is due to the lack of proper documentation on how to use the debugger in VS Code:

I would like the debugger to expose variables within the Julia session in the lower window as though the code was being executed within.

Not entirely sure what you mean, but there is a variable viewer in the debug pane.

I also want the debugger to have access to plotting on the command line, instead of the debug prompt elsewhere.

Fair criticism. We might be able to change that for the in-process debugger, I suppose.

I would like break points in the source listing to be automatically registered with the julia session, and for the julia process to not end when the debugger has completed.

That you can already do – just run your top-level function with e.g. @run or @enter to use the in-process debugger instead of a new process.

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Thanks. I guess I was not familiar with the in-process debug capability. I will certainly try it out./K