Variabledisplay

Variabledisplay refers to a feature in software development environments that presents the current values of variables as a program executes, typically during debugging. It is implemented in integrated development environments, debuggers, and interactive shells, and is sometimes accessible through a watch list, a locals pane, hover tooltips, or inline annotations.

During debugging, variabledisplay updates as execution progresses, showing values when the program is paused at breakpoints or during step-through. It supports primitive types and complex data structures, and practice includes formatting options such as pretty-printing, depth control for nested objects, and filtering or grouping of related variables. Some systems also allow evaluating arbitrary expressions to derive derived quantities from the current state.

Variabledisplay relies on debug information and runtime reflection to inspect objects, often requiring debug symbols or symbols loaded for accurate representation. It may display references rather than full copies for large objects to avoid performance penalties. Security considerations include avoiding exposure of sensitive data, particularly in shared or collaboration environments.

In practice, variabledisplay complements program output and logs by providing a live, interactive view of state, rather than relying solely on print statements. It is distinct from logging in that it is typically non-intrusive and interactive, but it may be limited by optimizations that remove variables or inline scopes in optimized builds.