2.2.10. Debugging Python code using the PyCharm debugger

Debuggers are useful tools for debugging code that can be are far more powerful than print statements or logging. Debuggers allow users to interactively inspect Python programs during their execution. In particular, debuggers allow users to set breakpoints at which the Python interpret should halt its execution and enable the user to inspect the state of the program (value of each variable in the namespace and in all parent namespaces), run an arbitrary Python code (e.g. to print something out), step through the code (instruct the Python interpreter to execute one additional instructions of the program), and/or resume the program. Debuggers also allow users to set conditional breakpoints which can be used to halt the execution of a program when the value of a variable meets a specific condition. Together, debuggers make it easy to trace through programs and find errors.

Most IDEs include debuggers and there are debugger plugins for text editors such as Sublime. We recommend the PyCharm debugger. There are several tutorials on how to use PyCharm to debug code.

• Debugging in Python (using PyCharm)

• PyCharm Debugger Tutorial

• Getting Started with PyCharm 6/8: Debugging