wishing: zsh debugger

[mkkwong2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

In my opinion, one thing that deters people from writing more
complicated zsh scripts is the lack of a symbolic debugger. C/C++,
Perl and Ruby all have one.

"zsh -x SCRIPT" helps but often it prints too much, much more than
we really need. Say, if there is a bug near the beginning of the
script, then the output from the later part of the program becomes
mere noise and is distracting.

Wish that someone will write a debugger, even a very simple one to
start out with can be greatly helpful. It only needs to have the
capability to

   * step through line by line
   * step into functions (at least for those defined within the
     same script)
   * set breakpoint for given line numbers
   * print and set variable values while at a break point.

Making use of the output from "zsh -x", It is easy to write a perl
script to simulate a fake-debugger that can do the first 3 bullet
items. Someone more capable will have to write a real one that can
do all 4.

mk kwong