RevDB, a reverse debugger
Channel: PyCon South Africa
Date: 2016-10-09

Armin Rigo
https://2016.za.pycon.org/talks/42/
RevDB is an experimental "reverse debugger" for Python, similar to UndoDB-GDB or LL for C. You run your program once, in "record" mode, producing a log file; once you get buggy behavior, you start the reverse-debugger on the log file. It gives an (improved) pdb-like experience, but it is replaying your program exactly as it ran---all input/outputs are replayed from the log file instead of being redone.

The main point is that you can then go _backward_ as well as forward in time: from a situation that looks really buggy you can go back and discover how it came to be. You also get "watchpoints", which are very useful to find when things change. Watchpoints work both forward and backward.

I will show on small examples how you can use it, and also give an idea about how it works. It is based on PyPy, not CPython, so you need to ensure your program works on PyPy in the first place (but chances are that it does).