Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Unleashed

The Many Phases of Debugging

Nearly every time developers open the IDE, they are in some way debugging their code. The line between debugging and writing code, in fact, is becoming more and more blurred. For example, the code editor helps eliminate errors in your code as you write it. It highlights items where errors are present and enables you to fix them. You are then both writing and debugging simultaneously.

In addition, the compiler acts as another debugging tool. The first time you click the Run button, the compiler checks your code and reports a list of errors for you to fix before continuing. This is debugging. The steps or phases of the debugging process include the following:

• Coding—The editor helps you by pointing out issues and ...