Is a debug "silent" option desirable?

[Daniel J Sebald]

I don't see any type of option for controlling the text that is 
displayed by dbstep (either as an option to dbstep() or via separate 
function such as dbopt()).  With the GUI and its markers and hot-keys in 
the editor, the verbose text in the command window, such as:

> > test importdata
stopped in 
/usr/local/src/octave/octave/build-gui-12/../octave/scripts/testfun/assert.m 
at line 102
102:     if (ischar (expected))
debug>
stopped in 
/usr/local/src/octave/octave/build-gui-12/../octave/scripts/testfun/assert.m 
at line 120
120:     elseif (iscell (expected))
debug>
stopped in 
/usr/local/src/octave/octave/build-gui-12/../octave/scripts/testfun/assert.m 
at line 146
146:     elseif (isstruct (expected))
debug>
etc.

seems sort of redundant.  There is this function "dbwhere" which creates 
the same text as above.  If in debug mode the text is always displayed 
at the command line, the function "dbwhere" probably doesn't find much 
use.  Also, wasn't it on the Octave list where there was discussion of a 
debug feature that allowed showing more lines of text around the current 
position in the file?  With that feature, and not having the GUI, the 
user could probably use the command line interface without requiring the 
line of code be displayed with each "dbstep".

So, the question is whether there are some users who would prefer the 
debug mode not be so verbose.  The above might look like:

> > test importdata
stopped in 
/usr/local/src/octave/octave/build-gui-12/../octave/scripts/testfun/assert.m 
at line 102
102:     if (ischar (expected))
debug> dbstep
debug> dbstep
debug> dbstep
etc.
> >

Or not even advance the command line:

> > test importdata
stopped in 
/usr/local/src/octave/octave/build-gui-12/../octave/scripts/testfun/assert.m 
at line 102
102:     if (ischar (expected))
debug>
> >

It depends if one's viewpoint is that debugging is the equivalent of 
commands and the philosophy that all commands should be displayed as a 
historical trace of operations, or debugging is simply a mode of operation.

Dan