Let's talk about debuggers!

[Thomas Jollans]

Hi,

I just wanted to know what tools everyone used for debugging Python
applications - scripts / backend / desktop apps / notebooks / whatever.
Apart from the usual dance with log files and strategically inserted
print() calls, that is.

Of course we all know and mildly dislike pdb.

Personally, in practice, I'm most likely to need a debugger when
prototyping a function in a Jupyter notebook. There, ipdb, summoned with
the %%debug magic incantation, does the trick.

Sometimes, though, I miss having a visual debugger. You know, the kind
that Visual Basic has had for decades. There's one in Chrome dev tools
if you ever have the misfortune of writing JavaScript.

What options are there for Python (that work)? What text editors (and
IDEs) have a decent integrated debugger or debugging plugin? (Is there
anything for Sublime?) Does anyone use them? (How do YOU debug?)

I vaguely remember WinPDB, but that hasn't seen a release in more than
seven years...


-- 
Thomas Jollans