Debugging is the process of finding and fixing bugs in software programs. While developing a client/server application, it’s imperative to test the application thoroughly to ensure its efficiency and accuracy. However, it’s not always possible to catch all bugs during the testing phase, which is why debugging is vital.

Debugging Tools are programs that help developers track down bugs in software applications. In this blog post, we’ll explain some of the popular debugging tools and techniques that aid in identifying and fixing bugs in client/server applications.

Debugging Tools for Client/Server Applications 👨‍💻

1. Django Debug Toolbar

The Django Debug Toolbar is one of the most popular debugging tools for django-based web applications. This powerful tool offers a detailed breakdown of HTTP requests/responses, AJAX requests/response, and template rendering, allowing developers to analyze app performance in real-time.

A screenshot of the Django Debug Toolbar

2. PyCharm Debugger

PyCharm Debugger is an excellent debugging tool for Python developers. It allows you to pause the application’s execution, set breakpoints, and examines variables all within the IDE. PyCharm Debugger provides step-by-step debugging, which makes it easy for development teams to identify and remove bugs.

An image of PyCharm Debugger in the PyCharm IDE

3. Wireshark

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that captures packets in real-time to help developers understand what’s happening on the network. This tool is useful when developing client/server applications because you can see the communication between the client and server.

An image of Wireshark showing captured network traffic

4. Chrome DevTools

Chrome DevTools is a powerful debugging tool for debugging client-side code. It allows developers to inspect and debug JavaScript, HTML, and CSS in real-time. Furthermore, developers can use DevTools to simulate network traffic, which is useful when testing client/server applications.

An image of the Chrome DevTools panel showing the network tab

Debugging Techniques for Client/Server Applications 💡

1. Logging

Logging is a helpful debugging technique that allows developers to capture information about events that occur within their application. Developers use logging libraries like Python’s logging module to output messages such as error, warning, info, and debug to the console or a file.

A screenshot of a log file displaying messages output by the application

2. Breakpoints

Breakpoints are an essential debugging technique that allows developers to pause an application’s execution at a particular line of code. Developers can then use this opportunity to inspect variables and determine if the code is working as expected.

An image of a breakpoint set in the code editor of an IDE

3. Test-driven Development

Test-driven Development (TDD) is a software development technique that places emphasis on writing automated tests before writing functional code. With TDD, developers can write tests that help catch bugs early during the development process. As a result, it’s an excellent debugging technique to find client/server application bugs.

An image of a test file written in the PyTest framework

Conclusion 🎉

Debugging client/server applications is crucial to ensure the application works as expected. In this post, we’ve discussed some of the popular debugging tools and techniques available to developers. It’s important to understand that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for debugging, and developers should use a combination of tools and techniques to track down and eliminate bugs.

An image representing a bug being squished with a hammer