"Out of scope" variables on debug

Obviously I forgot a certain amount of details, I'm taking about debugging within a simple method.

For instance the following method:

int testMethod(int a)
{ if (a > 0) return 1; else return 0;
}

Well if i put a breakpoint within this, at any position, I would sometimes see 'a', but most times, the debbugger will say it's out of scope.

Obviously I forgot a certain amount of details, I'm taking about debugging within a simple method.

For instance the following method:

int testMethod(int a)
{ if (a > 0) return 1; else return 0;
}

Well if i put a breakpoint within this, at any position, I would sometimes see 'a', but most times, the debbugger will say it's out of scope.

Have you looked at the assembler produced (and single stepped through that)?

The parameter 'a' is almost certainly being passed in a register, so it's life (as far as the debugger is concerned) would be very short.

This is an example of it happening, take a look at the local watch on the right:

tof.canardpc.com/.../d134f819-2031-4cf2-8cb7-66dc78f5675e.jpg

And the assembly code:

tof.canardpc.com/.../8f91307a-5b3c-4f7d-9a65-7b6b8c1dc520.jpg

I very much suspect that is the root of the problem!

With a trivial function like that, the actual body could possibly be implemented as just one or two machine instructions - and it can be hard to line that up precisely with 'C' source lines.

Hence you might think you're "in" the function (so the variables should be in-scope), but the debugger thinks you're not quite "in" it yet - or just on the way "out" of it - so the variables are out-of-scope...

I understand your point but:
- when debugging the same method with gdb I can see the variables (not the same compiler obviously but still...),
- this did not happen with the previous version of µvision

Are there at lot of work when migrating a program to GDB, the GNU Project debugger?