At any point during program development you can hit F9 to compile and launch the program in its current state. If the program runs into trouble, Turbo Explorer's integrated debugger will drop you into the source code at the exact location of the error, with a clear explanation of what happened. It automatically opens a view that includes all the information panels most likely to help during debugging. You can scan the list of local variables, inspect an object's properties, or just point the mouse at a variable to see its current value in a tooltip. Clicking in the gutter next to a line of code will set a breakpoint—next time the program reaches that line, it'll halt and let you check what's going on. If necessary, set the debugger to watch how specific variables change as you step through the code line-by-line.
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The Turbo Explorer programs have nearly the full power of the expansive (and expensive) Borland Developer Studio 2006—nearly everything an individual programmer can use. Certainly there's more under the hood than can possibly be covered in this review. But that also means it will take a while to get your mind around the whole product. Visit www.turboexplorer.com for code samples, discussion forums, and other resources to help new and experienced programmers. Truly, if you've ever thought about learning to program, this is your big chance.
This article was originally published on pcmag.com.
