src/coding_practices/tooling/debugger_vscode.md

+**Page author:** @vtemplier @cmoineau
+
+
+# VSCode debugger for Python/C++ code
+
+Instead of wasting your time looking at some variables, why not look at them all at once **without having to write an extra line of code**? <br>
+For that, continue to follow this tutorial to learn how to use a debugger.
+
+<!-- ![debugger_presentation](./_static/debugger/debugger_presentation.png) -->
+<p align="center">
+  <img src="/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/debugger_presentation.png" />
+</p>
+
+## Requirements
+
+For this tutorial, **Visual Studio Code** will be used so be sure to have the newest version of it. <br>
+
+You also need to be in a Linux environment to run the debugger, so if you are debugging on a remote server, we recommand the use of **Remote SSH** extension to connect your workspace via SSH to the servers (find the list here).
+
+![Remote_SSH extension](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/remote_ssh_extension.png)
+
+You also need to install the **C/C++** extension to install some packages required to debug on VSCode.
+
+![C/C++ extension](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/c++_extension.png)
+
+You can find those extensions on the Extension section in VSCode.
+
+![Exension_VSCode](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/extension_vscode.gif)
+
+
+## Before starting to debug
+
+### Compile the project
+
+Of course you need to compile your aidge modules before debugging. It is required to debug in a optimization-free environment, so you should compile Aidge with *Debug* option.
+
+**For C++**, use ``DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug`` option.
+
+
+**For Python**, you need to set the env variable ``AIDGE_BUILD_TYPE`` to ``Debug``:
+
+> export AIDGE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
+
+:warning: It is important to clean your build file to recompile in debug!
+
+
+### The launch.json file
+
+To set up the debugger, you need to create a `launch.json` file in the `/.vscode` folder.
+
+<!-- ![vscode_folder](./_static/debugger/vscode_folder.png) -->
+<p align="center">
+  <img src="/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/vscode_folder.png" />
+</p>
+
+Then, please copy the entire code given below in `launch.json`.
+
+```json
+{
+    "version": "0.2.0",
+    "configurations":
+    [
+        {
+            "name": "C++ Aidge Debugger",
+            "type": "cppdbg",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "",                     // Path to binary
+            "args": [],                        // Argument to provide (separated by coma)
+            "stopAtEntry": false,
+            "cwd": "",                         // Path to working directory
+            "environment": [],
+            "externalConsole": false,
+            "MIMode": "gdb",
+            "setupCommands": [
+                {
+                    "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
+                    "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
+                    "ignoreFailures": true
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    ]
+}
+
+```
+The only parameters that are important to you are `program`, `args` and `cwd`.
+
+* `program`: indicates to the debugger where is the executable of the project (**Note :** If you want to debug the PythonAPI, you can indicate the path to your python executable `virtualenv/bin/python` instead of the aidge binary, this will allow you to debug C++ code called by Python)
+
+* `args`: indicates the arguments to the command you want to run (**Note :** If you want to debug the PythonAPI, the first argument should be the path to the script you want to debug)
+
+* `cwd`: indicates where the debugger has to run the command
+
+
+## Let's debug !
+
+To use the debugger, it is important to define the breakpoints you want to use. <br>
+The breakpoints will be necessary to pause the program where you want. Once the program meets a breakpoint, it will provide a view of the local environment.
+
+To set up a breakpoint, just click the line where you desire to observe the program behaviour.
+
+![Breakpoint](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/breakpoint.gif)
+
+Then run the debugger.
+
+![Run_debugger](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/run_debugger.gif)
+
+When the program meets the breakpoint, you should observe this view.
+
+![Debugger view](/groups/eclipse/aidge/-/wikis/_static/debugger/debugger_view.png)
+
+**Warning : the debugger only displays variables which belong to the observed file**