This is a final report of my grant of improving the Perl built-in debugger
(invoked using "perl -d" on the command line with code residing in
lib/perl5db.pl and tests in lib/perl5db.t), by adding more tests and
refactoring it.

The grant was completed mostly successfully, after the number of test
assertions in lib/perl5db.t was increased to 108, and the debugger's core
code (in lib/perl5db.pl) has been made more modular and elegant. The reason
it was not a full success is because the debugger's code is still not as
elegant as it could be, but part of the problem was my desire not to break
bug-to-bug backwards compatibility of CPAN and darkpan modules that make
use of the debugger's internal API.

During the grant, my grant manager, Alan Haggai Alavi, published
several reports on the TPF blog on my behalf:

* http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/adding-tests-to-and-refactorin-1.html

* http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/adding-tests-to-and-refactorin-2.html

* http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/10/adding-tests-to-and-refactorin-3.html

* http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/11/adding-tests-to-and-refactorin-4.html

During the grant I have learnt what git rebase was all about, how to use
it, and why it was sometimes a good idea, and also became familiar with more
features of the debugger.

If anyone is interested in a more modular debugger for Perl, while doing away
with backwards compatibility, they can look at Devel::Trepan:

* http://metacpan.org/module/Devel::Trepan

* http://github.com/rocky/Perl-Devel-Trepan

Otherwise, the refactored debugger should be more amenable to changes, and
the additional test assertions will better ascertain it is not going to be
broken as easily.

I would like to thank Alan Haggai Alavi (my grant manager), Father
Chrysostomos ( https://metacpan.org/author/SPROUT - for applying some of my
changesets and for fixing a bug or two I discovered), Ricardo Signes (the
perl 5 pumpking), Rocky Bernstein (for writing Devel-Trepan and commenting
on the grant reports), and the other perl5-porters.

I am planning on continuing working on the perl debugger, and other parts
of the perl 5 core after the end of the grant, but I thank the Perl Foundation
for giving me the grant, which has motivated me.

Regards, and Happy Holidays,

— Shlomi Fish