Print function log /stack trace for entire program using firebug

Firefox provides console.trace() which is very handy to print the call stack. It is also available in Chrome and IE 11.

Alternatively try something like this:

function print_call_stack() {
  var stack = new Error().stack;
  console.log("PRINTING CALL STACK");
  console.log( stack );
}

When i need a stack trace i do the following, maybe you can draw some inspiration from it:

function logStackTrace(levels) {
    var callstack = [];
    var isCallstackPopulated = false;
    try {
        i.dont.exist += 0; //doesn't exist- that's the point
    } catch (e) {
        if (e.stack) { //Firefox / chrome
            var lines = e.stack.split('\n');
            for (var i = 0, len = lines.length; i < len; i++) {
                    callstack.push(lines[i]);
            }
            //Remove call to logStackTrace()
            callstack.shift();
            isCallstackPopulated = true;
        }
        else if (window.opera && e.message) { //Opera
            var lines = e.message.split('\n');
            for (var i = 0, len = lines.length; i < len; i++) {
                if (lines[i].match(/^\s*[A-Za-z0-9\-_\$]+\(/)) {
                    var entry = lines[i];
                    //Append next line also since it has the file info
                    if (lines[i + 1]) {
                        entry += " at " + lines[i + 1];
                        i++;
                    }
                    callstack.push(entry);
                }
            }
            //Remove call to logStackTrace()
            callstack.shift();
            isCallstackPopulated = true;
        }
    }
    if (!isCallstackPopulated) { //IE and Safari
        var currentFunction = arguments.callee.caller;
        while (currentFunction) {
            var fn = currentFunction.toString();
            var fname = fn.substring(fn.indexOf("function") + 8, fn.indexOf("(")) || "anonymous";
            callstack.push(fname);
            currentFunction = currentFunction.caller;
        }
    }
    if (levels) {
        console.log(callstack.slice(0, levels).join('\n'));
    }
    else {
        console.log(callstack.join('\n'));
    }
};

Moderator's note: The code in this answer seems to also appear in this post from Eric Wenderlin's blog. The author of this answer claims it as his own code, though, written prior to the blog post linked here. Just for purposes of good-faith, I've added the link to the post and this note.

Try stepping through your code one line or one function at a time to determine where it stops working correctly. Or make some reasonable guesses and scatter logging statements through your code.

I accomplished this without firebug. Tested in both chrome and firefox:

console.error("I'm debugging this code.");

Once your program prints that to the console, you can click the little arrow to it to expand the call stack.