breakpoint (programming) A point in a program that, when reached, triggers some special behavior useful to the process of debugging; generally, breakpoints are used to either pause program execution, and/or dump the values of some or all of the program variables. Breakpoints may be part of the program itself; or they may be set by the programmer as part of an interactive session with a debugging tool for scrutinizing the program's execution.
Last updated: 1999-06-07
