Re: debugging and lambda variables

[Jonathan Rees <Rees@YALE.ARPA>]

    From: Todd Allen <Allen>
    
    I've noticed that when a function ----s out you can't look at
    lambda variables.  For example, if you have said,
    
        (DEFINE (FOO ...)
            (LET ((A ...) (B ...))
                ...))
    
    and FOO craps out, then you can't examine A and B.  Need I say
    that this sets back debugging to the good old days of, say,
    1955-1960.  Is there any way out of this problem?
    
This is not true.  Use the inspector to go down to a stack frame which
belongs to FOO.  Then give a B command, and your read-eval-print loop
is now in FOO's environment.  This documented feature works even in
version 2.6.

The loss of execution history due to tail-recursion is a problem which
will be fixed one day.  However, I believe that the amount of history
that one does have with continuations is sufficient in many cases.

And by the way, no, you needn't say.  

    The inspector seems to be of absolutely no value in debugging
    broken programs.

While it is not a finished product, I would not say that your statement
is true.

    ... the release of 2.7 could be held up for weeks or months to come...
    
Not true.  Aegis SR7 is expected to be here quite soon.