Delphi 10: "Debug" has "Use debug .dcu's" on by default

2021-09-01 18:48  d10debugdcus     [permalink]

Since the community edition, and since it includes the command line compiler, I've been persuaded to switch some hobby projects I was sticking to Delphi 7 for. I've enjoyed a few of the new features I've been missing on (Ctrl+Shift+F! F6!), but also have noticed a few strange quirks I'm not so content with. [WARNING: what follows is my own opinion, you have every right to disagree and it is not at all implied you're doing anything wrong by disagreeing] If you start a new project, you get a "Debug" and "Release" configuration in the project, but the "Debug" project has the "Use debug dcu's" option checked in the project options under Building > Delphi Compiler > Compiling > Debugging. I regret that because when you follow what code does using the debugger and pressing F7 repeatedly, and you're not using the debug .dcu's, you only get to see code from your project. Especially for beginners, I think it could be quite jarring to end up in the thick of VCL-code without a clear way how to get out of there. (Shift-F8? Sometimes but not always.) If you F7 on a TStringList's LoadFromFile, it shouldn't descend into that unless you really need to and know what you're searching for down there... But that's just my opinion. Another thing that struck me is that local variables don't get zeroed by the 64-bits compiler, but I'm not sure if there's a switch or setting that controls that?

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