What's new in debugging?

In the latest updates presented at WWDC 2024, there are several new features and improvements in debugging:

1. Xcode 16 Enhancements:

   • Unified Backtrace View: This feature allows you to see full backtraces in the editor, providing a comprehensive overview of function calls across your project. This can be activated in the debug bar.
   • RealityKit Debugger: You can now capture a snapshot of your app's entity hierarchy and explore it in 3D within Xcode. This helps in inspecting both built-in and custom properties of entities.
   • Thread Performance Checker: It now includes diagnostics for excessive disk writes and slow app launches, in addition to finding main thread hangs and priority inversions.

2. LLDB Debugging Techniques:

   • Conditional Breakpoints and Variable Inspection: LLDB provides tools to treat debugging as a search problem, allowing for effective navigation through code to find bugs.
   • Expression Evaluation: You can execute code while debugging without recompiling, using breakpoint actions and expression evaluation.
   • Swift 6 Features: New features in Swift 6 allow customization of how data types appear in the debugger, enhancing the debugging experience.

For more detailed insights, you can refer to the sessions:

• Xcode essentials (17:15) for debugging features in Xcode.
• Run, Break, Inspect: Explore effective debugging in LLDB (01:15) for LLDB debugging techniques.
• What’s new in Xcode 16 (08:30) for an overview of new debugging features in Xcode 16.