What is Program Database?

If you are working with .Net then you will be aware about PDB files.A PDB file is a Program Database,that is created during source code compilation.It stores information of program used by debugger like a list of all symbols in a module with their addresses and possibly the name of the file and the line on which the symbol was declared.

PDB files commonly have .pdb extention.When you create a class library project then after compilation,a .dll and .pdb file is created in ProjectRootFolder\bin\Debug.The created pdb file is program database for this project.

Uses of Program Database

• When a program is debugged a the debugger loads debugging information from the PDB file and uses it to locate symbols or relate current execution state of a program source code.
• Microsoft Visual Studio uses PDB files as its primary file format for debugging information.