Feature request regarding the editor

[kai]

When tracing through code looking for a bug a feature I am often using is to open an edit window on a variable. I can watch the changes made by the code to the variable which is often enough to identify the line that mutilates the data.

Unfortunately this does not work as well in dfns. As long as something is appended or the variable is indexed in one way or another it is still okay, but a reassignment means that a new variable with the same name is created, effectively shadowing the original one. The editor reflects this by changing the background colour of the edit window.

To me it seems more reasonable when the editor would continue to show the current (or new) value of the variable, as it would in a tradfn.

To implement this does not require a major effort, but in order to make it happen Dyalog still needs to know whether this is a feature people think is wortwhile implementing. So, if you are in favour of this enhancement, you should voice your opinion, because otherwise it is unlikely to happen.

[kai]

To illustrate my point I've created a short video. It cannot be attached to this thread because MP4 files are now allowed but it can be accessed via this URL:

https://download.aplteam.com/VarsWatcher.mp4

I've done this because I got an email from a guy who's never realized that one can do this.

[kai]

It would be nice to have the opportunity to somehow tell Dyalog that when tracing a function I would like to see the values of all local variables.

If a change would be highlighted in one way or another that would be the cherry on the cake.

To implement this does not require a major effort, but in order to make it happen Dyalog still needs to know whether this is a feature people think is wortwhile implementing. So, if you are in favour of this enhancement, you should voice your opinion, because otherwise it is unlikely to happen.

[gil]

This is a long standing RFE for RIDE that can't be done without support from the interpreter (see RIDE issue #18).

I would welcome this as well. Clearly, large arrays would benefit from displaying a short form (rank,shape, depth and the first few items perhaps, or first few chars of the array notation?).