Having used both the Professional and Express editions quite a lot, even I was hard pressed to find even small differences between them regarding debugging support. Anyway, here's what I found:
-Conditional breakpoints
In Express editions, you can simply toggle breakpoints on and off, and add and delete them. In other versions, you can define additional conditions to the breakpoint, such as "break when hit for the fifth time" and such.
-Remote debugging
Versions other than Express and Standard support remote debugging - that is, debugging a process that runs on a remote machine.
-Attach to running process
Express editions only support debugging inside the current project. With other versions, you can also attach the debugger to an existing process handle.
-SQL Server debugging
Express doesn't support this; I'm not sure if Standard does but Professional can handle it.
These features are very rarely needed by hobbyist programmers or even professionals at the beginning of their career. It would be foolish for a beginner to purchase the Visual Studio Professional just to use these particular features. For people who develop applications to earn their paycheck, I wholeheartedly recommend VS Professional, even though primarily for other reasons than the debugging enhancements.
Visual C++ Express Edition Debugger!
Also, a few tips to maximize the Visual Studio debugging experience.
-You can move the execution pointer around when in breakpoint. This is useful if you want to temporarily skip a certain piece of code from running, without modifying the actual code.
-The Watch and QuickWatch windows are your friends. You can examine any variable of the program and change the variables' values at will. This is useful when tracking logic errors in your code.
-Exception filtering allows you to set breaking conditions globally for almost any type of runtime error. This is especially useful if you're bughunting against existing code written by someone else, as it allows fine control on which exceptions cause the breakpoint to occur, and whether on handled or unhandled exceptions.
I hope these help someone. I have much more tips up my sleeve, but now I'm going to sleep instead of writing here (2AM here in Finland).
-You can move the execution pointer around when in breakpoint. This is useful if you want to temporarily skip a certain piece of code from running, without modifying the actual code.
-The Watch and QuickWatch windows are your friends. You can examine any variable of the program and change the variables' values at will. This is useful when tracking logic errors in your code.
-Exception filtering allows you to set breaking conditions globally for almost any type of runtime error. This is especially useful if you're bughunting against existing code written by someone else, as it allows fine control on which exceptions cause the breakpoint to occur, and whether on handled or unhandled exceptions.
I hope these help someone. I have much more tips up my sleeve, but now I'm going to sleep instead of writing here (2AM here in Finland).
Quote:Original post by Nik02I don't know about the other Express products, but I'm pretty sure Visual C++ Express lets you do conditional breakpoints and attach to running processes. I use them all the time at work.
Having used both the Professional and Express editions quite a lot, even I was hard pressed to find even small differences between them regarding debugging support. Anyway, here's what I found:
-Conditional breakpoints
In Express editions, you can simply toggle breakpoints on and off, and add and delete them. In other versions, you can define additional conditions to the breakpoint, such as "break when hit for the fifth time" and such.
-Remote debugging
Versions other than Express and Standard support remote debugging - that is, debugging a process that runs on a remote machine.
-Attach to running process
Express editions only support debugging inside the current project. With other versions, you can also attach the debugger to an existing process handle.
-SQL Server debugging
Express doesn't support this; I'm not sure if Standard does but Professional can handle it.
These features are very rarely needed by hobbyist programmers or even professionals at the beginning of their career. It would be foolish for a beginner to purchase the Visual Studio Professional just to use these particular features. For people who develop applications to earn their paycheck, I wholeheartedly recommend VS Professional, even though primarily for other reasons than the debugging enhancements.
Given that Sicrane continues to challenge but himself offers no solution, I'll point out the differences that appear to be available from the professional (or standard if indicated) edition onwards:
- Just-in-Time Debugging (Available from the standard edition onwards).
- Remote Debugging.
- SOS (never used this, but it's availble from the standard edition onwards).
- Crash Dumps (Also available from the standard edition onwards).
- SQL Server 2005 Debugging.
These are all that I recall right now, and for those pointed out that are available for the standard edition I would recommend to the serious novice.
For the record, I am not saying that my list is complete nor am I suggesting that the original poster purchases the pro edition. I was just pointing out that the fuller featured compilers cost money.
Now can we let it rest, SiCrane?!
- Just-in-Time Debugging (Available from the standard edition onwards).
- Remote Debugging.
- SOS (never used this, but it's availble from the standard edition onwards).
- Crash Dumps (Also available from the standard edition onwards).
- SQL Server 2005 Debugging.
These are all that I recall right now, and for those pointed out that are available for the standard edition I would recommend to the serious novice.
For the record, I am not saying that my list is complete nor am I suggesting that the original poster purchases the pro edition. I was just pointing out that the fuller featured compilers cost money.
Now can we let it rest, SiCrane?!
This topic is closed to new replies.
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