How are debug consoles implemented in Python?

Question

I've seen a couple of Python IDE's (e.g. PyDev Extensions, WingIDE) that provide a debug console - an interactive terminal that runs in the context of the method where the breakpoint is. This lets you print members, call other methods and see the results, and redefine methods to try to fix bugs. Cool.

Can anyone tell me how this is implemented? I know there's the Code module, which provides an InteractiveConsole class, but I don't know how this can be run in the context of currently loaded code. I'm quite new to Python, so gentle assistance would be appreciated!

Answer 1

You could try looking at the python debugger pdb. It's like gdb in how you use it, but implemented in pure python. Have a look for pdb.py in your python install directory.