different between breakpoint vs watchpoint

English

Etymology

break +? point

Noun

breakpoint (plural breakpoints)

1. (programming) A point in a program at which operation may be interrupted during debugging so that the state of the program at that point can be investigated.
2. (meteorology) Location referred to when issuing watches, warnings, or advisories for specific areas.
3. (physics) The point where surface water waves are breaking in e.g. oceans or lakes.
4. (web development) A particular size at which a web page is designed to switch to a different layout.
   • 2012, Charles Wyke-Smith, Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide

     If a device's screen width is equal to, or less than, the screen width defined at the breakpoint, it will have the related CSS applied to it. You sometimes want to set breakpoints to match particular device screen widths, but I have found that what is most important is simply that the layout remains usable as it gets smaller.

Translations

Verb

breakpoint (third-person singular simple present breakpoints, present participle breakpointing, simple past and past participle breakpointed)

1. (programming, transitive) To flag with a breakpoint.
   • 1981, Ben E. Cline, Microprogramming Concepts and Techniques (page 134)

     If the microprogrammer wishes to continue execution at a breakpointed location, it is desirable to execute the breakpointed microinstruction, replace the microinstruction with a branch microinstruction to restore the breakpoint, and continue microinstruction execution.

See also

• break point

References

• (computing) Breakpoint on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• (meteorology) Breakpoint on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• point break, pointbreak

English

Etymology

From watch +? point, on the model of breakpoint.

Noun

watchpoint (plural watchpoints)

1. (programming) A debugging mechanism whereby execution is suspended every time a specified memory location is modified; or, any of various similar such mechanisms.
   • 1990, NASA Tech Briefs (page 98)

     AdaRAID supports multiple CPUs running concurrently, Ada data types, features include break points, watchpoints, timing, tracing, stepping, walkbacks, and histories of last n executions.

Usage notes

• Watchpoints are frequently called “data breakpoints” (or similar) and treated as a type of breakpoint; however, they are also frequently contrasted with breakpoints. In either case, the meaning of watchpoint is the same; the discrepancy is due to differing uses of the term breakpoint.