VS Code Debugging Configuration Walkthrough for a Beginner
Understand launch.json and set up breakpoints for a small program.
The Open buttons send the prompt text as currently shown below to that site only when you click. Fill in the placeholders first.
[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it.
Help me learn to debug in Visual Studio Code, teaching the method so I can debug the next problem alone rather than simply fixing my code. Language and runtime: [LANGUAGE]. How I run the program now: [RUN_COMMAND]. The bug or behaviour I want to understand: [BUG_DESCRIPTION]. A short code excerpt with secrets removed: [CODE_EXCERPT]. Explain in plain words what a debugger does, then walk through setting a breakpoint, a conditional breakpoint, stepping over, into and out, watching variables, the call stack, and the debug console. Draft a launch.json for my case and explain every field, marking field names and values to check [VERIFY]. Show where I would place the first breakpoint in my excerpt and what to look for. Add an exercise with invented code containing a small bug (an off-by-one error in a loop) with the steps to find it and the variable values expected at each step. List common problems: breakpoints that do not hit, wrong working directory, and environment variables. Never paste secrets into the debug console or commit them in launch configurations.
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