6: DDD Debugger

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A debugger allows the user to control execution of a program, examine variables, other memory (i.e., stack space), and display program output (if any). The open source GNU Data Display Debugger (DDD) is a visual front-end to the GNU Debugger (GDB) and is widely available. Other debuggers can easily be used if desired. Only the basic debugger commands are addressed in this chapter. The DDD debugger has many more features and options not covered here. As you gain experience, it would be worth reviewing the DDD documentation, referenced in Chapter 1, to learn more about additional features in order to help improve overall debugging efficiency. DDD functionality can be extended using various plug-ins. The plug-ins are not required and will not be addressed in this Chapter. This chapter addresses using the GNU DDD debugger as a tool. The logical process of how to debug a program is not addressed in this chapter.

6.1: Starting DDD
The ddd debugger is started with the executable file. The program must be assembled and linked with the correct options (as noted in the previous chapter).
6.2: Program Execution with DDD
6.3: Exercises