Best Debugging Tools for 2024

In the modern software development industry, debugging is a crucial process. This step allows developers to identify and rectify errors within the code efficiently. This process becomes even more essential with the inclusion of automation testing tools. 

Testers use various automation testing tools that can streamline the debugging process. These tools also help improve software productivity and quality.

In this article, we will find some of the best debugging tools currently available in 2024. We will also pinpoint these tool’s features, benefits, and suitability for various app development environments during our discussion.

Understanding the Role of Debugging Tools

Debugging tools are very important in the modern software development process. They have a huge role in isolating, identifying, and rectifying errors or bugs in the app’s source code. Modern developers and testers cannot overstate the significance of these tools, as their efficiency and effectiveness directly impact the reliability, quality, and timely delivery of software apps.

To further improve our knowledge about the role of these tools, we will take a brief look at some of the significant benefits based on modern software development practices:

• Testers can use these tools to find the exact location and nature of errors within the app’s source code.

• Modern debugging tools help increase the efficiency of the troubleshooting process. This is possible by providing insights into the runtime behavior of software apps.

• These tools help find and fix bugs and provide resources for optimizing the code. These resources help improve the app’s performance and efficiency.

• Using modern debugging tools, app development companies can promote collaboration among development teams by providing mechanisms for sharing debugging status, diagnostic information, and code snippets.

• These tools play a crucial role in the quality assurance and testing processes by improving the quality of the testing, validation, and verification stages.

• To implement modern DevOps practices, testers and developers use automation testing tools, which must integrate the various debugging tools with continuous integration and deployment pipelines. This approach helps improve the efficiency of automation testing, test debugging, and software deployment processes.

• The effective use of debugging tools plays a massive role in risk mitigation and security enhancement. These tools allow developers to identify security flaws and vulnerabilities and create initial attack vectors within the software application.

Exploring the Best Debugging Tools for 2024

Based on the current software development standards and the changing requirements of the developers, we have created a list of some of the best debugging tools that can stand up to the requirements of the 2024 development industry:

1. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code, also known as VS Code, is one of the most popular and versatile code editors among developers. It provides extensive, powerful development capabilities and debugging extensions for various programming languages and frameworks.

Main Features

• VS Code has an integrated debugger supporting popular programming languages like JavaScript, Python, and many more.

• Developers can set breakpoints and watch variables for inspecting their values during the test runtime to facilitate effective debugging.

• This tool also has a marketplace with a wide range of debugging extensions, which allows developers to customize the debugging experience according to their requirements and preferences.
• To perform robust automation testing to help you debug issues faster, testers can use Selenium WebDriver; by using Selenium WebDriver, developers can automate browser interactions and streamline the testing and debugging process, making this extension the most invaluable tool for ensuring the reliability and efficiency of web applications. For any testers its important to learn what is Selenium WebDriver in order to use it effectively with VScode. 

Advantages

• VS Code has an attractive interface that makes it simple for testers to navigate the code and perform debugging steps effectively.

• It also has a lot of extensions to improve the functionality and make it adaptable to different development workflows.

• This tool also works perfectly with multiple operating systems. The compatible OSs include Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

2. Chrome DevTools

Chrome DevTools is also popular among web developers. It offers a comprehensive set of debugging and profiling features for debugging modern web apps.

Main Features

• Developers can inspect and manipulate the document object model of web pages using this tool. Thus, this approach helps implement real-time debugging of HTML and CSS.

• This advanced tool also provides complex JavaScript debugging capabilities. Some unique capabilities include step-by-step execution, breakpoints, and expression evaluation.

• Using Chrome DevTools, testers can analyze the performance of their latest web apps. Moreover, the profiling features also allow the testers to identify bottlenecks and optimize the code. This approach guarantees an overall better performance.

Advantages

• This tool allows the developers to make live changes within their source code and see the results instantly. App development companies can use this approach to speed up debugging.

• Using the remote debugging feature, developers can instantly debug web applications running on mobile devices from the desktop browser. This approach helps simplify the debugging of responsive designs and mobile-specific issues.

• Finally, Chrome DevTools offers detailed network analysis, allowing developers to diagnose network-related issues and optimize the loading time of multiple web pages.

3. Xcode

Xcode is a popular choice for modern developers building applications on the Apple ecosystem. This debugging tool offers robust features and integrations with Apple’s platform. It also provides a comprehensive development environment for building macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS applications.

Main Features

• Xcode includes IDB, a powerful debugger that supports debugging C, Objective-C, C++, and Swift code.

• While using this tool, the developers can visually inspect the app’s user interface during runtime to facilitate the identification of layout issues and user interface glitches.

• Finally, while using this tool, developers can access various performance tuning tools to analyze CPU, energy, and memory usage to optimize the apps’ performance and efficiency.

Advantages

• It allows developers to simulate various operating systems, such as iOS, macOS, and tvOS, to test and debug their code across different device configurations.

• The developers can seamlessly integrate Xcode with other Apple developer tools and frameworks, including XCTest and Interface Builder. This integration provides a cohesive development experience for Apple-specific platform developers.

• The Swift platform feature of Xcode allows developers to experiment with Swift code in an interactive environment. This approach provides an ideal environment for prototyping and learning Swift programming concepts.

4. JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is a debugging tool developed by JetBrains and is famous for its robust integrated development environment. It also provides comprehensive capabilities and support for various frameworks and programming languages. Moreover, intelligent code analysis and debugging tools empower developers to write quality code quickly.

Main Features

• IntelliJ IDEA has an intelligent code completion feature and dedicated features for refactoring and navigating the application. These additions help developers write clean and maintainable code.

• It also has a built-in debugger that supports Kotlin, Java, Scala, and other JVM-based languages. This approach allows developers to integrate advanced debugging features, such as inline variable values and smart steps.

• Developers can debug apps on remote servers or virtual machines using IntelliJ IDEA. This helps simplify the debugging of cloud-based apps and distributed systems.

Advantages

• IntelliJ IDEA provides a native quality analysis tool that helps find potential bugs, code smells, and performance issues.

• The testers can smoothly integrate IntelliJ IDEA with version control systems. Some of the popular options are Subversion, Git, and Mercurial. This integration provides powerful features and allows collaborative app development workflows.

• Finally, IntelliJ IDEA supports a massively large range of extensions and plugins. This support allows testers to customize their development environment according to their preferences and requirements.

Best Practices for Using Debugging Tools

To maximize the benefits of these tools, developers must comply with specific best practices to optimize their workflow and facilitate efficient debugging:

• Understanding the Debugging Tools

Before initiating the debugging process, developers must take time to familiarize themselves with the features and capabilities of the debugging tools they are currently using. For instance, it is essential to understand how to set breakpoints, navigate stack traces, inspect variables, and utilize other debugging functions effectively.

• Beginning With a Reproducible Test Case

We advise the developers to reproduce the issue in a controlled environment with a minimal test case to help isolate the problem. This approach makes debugging more manageable and ensures that they focus on the specific issue and are not overwhelmed by other factors.

• Implementing Version Control

Modern automation testers and developers must utilize version control systems like Git to maintain a history of changes within the source code. This approach also helps revert to previous versions if required and provides a safe environment for testing, experimentation, and debugging. This environment also eliminates the risk of losing essential code changes if anything goes wrong.

• Utilizing Test Logging

Logging can allow developers to complement debugging efforts by providing additional insights into the code’s behavior. Developers must strategically place logging statements to capture relevant information, including exit points, function entries, error conditions, and variable values.

• Debugging Incrementally

One of the most effective practices is to break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable fragments and debug them incrementally. The developers can start this process by identifying and fixing one issue at a time. They should also verify the correctness of each change before moving on to the next element.

Implementing this approach prevents overwhelming the developers and testers while ensuring they are making systematic progress.

• Integrating Comprehensive Test Reports

To improve the effectiveness of the debugging process, developers must ensure the conciseness and accuracy of the test reports. These reports provide information about all the faulty elements within the app and help developers easily locate them to implement the fixes.

Testers can integrate cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest to create visually appealing test reports. As one of the leading AI testing tools, it is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations. It integrates screenshots and videos in reports, aiding in debugging. 

The platform also offers features like AI, parallel testing, and live test activity logs, enabling developers to run test cases on thousands of real devices via remote servers.

 The Conclusion

Conclusively, debugging tools are crucial to the modern software development life cycle. Using these tools, developers, and testers can identify and remove errors within the test cycle. As we move into 2024, developers can access various debugging tools, each offering unique features and capabilities based on multiple development scenarios.

So, whether developers are debugging web apps, mobile apps, APIs, or desktop software, a tool is always available to meet their specific requirements and preferences.