2017-02-02 17:16 GMT+01:00 John Brant <brant@refactoryworkers.com>:
I think my preference would be to have several tabs for the variables. In addition to the one tab that we have now that shows all variables, I can think of tabs for locals, inst vars, interesting variables, watched variables/expressions, and stack variables. Locals would show just the method/block arguments and any temps defined in the method. Inst vars would show the object's inst vars (and maybe class vars, however these would only appear after the inst vars).
Interesting variables would show locals and inst vars used by the method. The locals would be limited to the ones that are still active at the current location in the method. For example, if you are in a block, it would only show variables used in the block. Also, if you are before(/after) the first(/final) use of the variable, it wouldn't show in the interesting list. Interesting variables should also do some analysis to see what accessor methods are used and show their corresponding variables.
Watched variables/expressions would be user controlled. The user could add/remove variables or expressions. These variables/expressions would remain across different methods. If a variable didn't exist in the other method, "Invalid" could be displayed.
Finally, stack variables would display the whole stack and not just the top item. I like the ability to see the stack top, but it really doesn't work if you want to see the first argument of a two argument message send. For example, if you debug "Array with: OrderedCollection new with: Set new", stepping over the "OrderedCollection new" immediately pushes the "Set" class on the stack so you can't see the "OrderedCollection new" object.
BTW, the current variable list sometimes shows 'error obtaining field value' for temporaries when stepping through a method. I'm not sure why it occurs, but it should always be able to display the temp variables.
I want everything you suggest :)