Console & Debugger Tools

Effective debugging is a critical skill for any developer. While `console.log` is a great first step, modern browsers provide a powerful suite of debugging tools that offer much deeper insight into your code's execution. The primary tool is the debugger. You can pause your code's execution at any point by setting a 'breakpoint'. This can be done by clicking on a line number in the Sources panel of the developer tools, or by adding the `debugger;` statement directly into your code. When execution pauses, you gain several capabilities. You can inspect the 'scope' panel to see the current values of all local and global variables at that exact moment. You can analyze the 'call stack' to see the chain of function calls that led to the current point. Most importantly, you can control the execution flow. You can 'step over' to the next line of code, 'step into' a function call to see what happens inside it, or 'step out' to return to the calling function. This allows you to trace the logic of your program line by line, helping you pinpoint exactly where something goes wrong. Mastering these tools will save you countless hours of guesswork and make you a much more efficient and effective developer.