Questions on the following subjects about "debugging" are accepted: The "debugging" phase itself Debugging techniques/skills How best to debug a given application, be precise in what seems to be the problem (distributed application, concurrent debugging, etc.) When (not) to use a debugger in a ...
54
votes
21answers
5k views
“It was working yesterday, I swear!” What can you do?
When you arrive in the morning, you find that your software does not work anymore, even though it did when you left yesterday evening.
What do you do? What do you check first? What do you do to stop ...
36
votes
16answers
2k views
How to check or assess debugging skills of a person?
What kind of skills determine a person that is capable of debugging code with ease? Some time ago my friend carried out an interview with a relatively good programmer. The programmer got hired. He ...
34
votes
9answers
641 views
How to test the tests?
We test our code to make it more correct (actually, less likely to be incorrect). However, the tests are also code -- they can also contain errors. And if your tests are buggy, they hardly make your ...
29
votes
21answers
2k views
How do you tackle really bizarre errors that keep you puzzled for more than 10 hours? [closed]
You know them, those errors that make NO sense. Where it seems like a gremlin just jumped deep inside your chips and messed up something. Do you take a walk, write stuff, call an uncle? I need help!!
24
votes
13answers
1k views
Does the use of debuggers have an effect on the efficiency of programmers? [closed]
Possible Duplicate:
Are debugging skills important to become a good programmer?
I'm a young Java developer and I make a systematic use of the Netbeans debugger. In fact, I often develop my ...
23
votes
10answers
845 views
Concurrency: How do you approach the design and debug the implementation?
I've been developing concurrent systems for several years now, and I have a pretty good grasp on the subject despite my lack of formal training (i.e. no degree). There's a few new languages that have ...
20
votes
15answers
1k views
Are debugging skills important to become a good programmer?
Along with the other qualities should a programmer need good debugging skills? If I have an applicant who was not able to find the error in the given program, but was able to solve all puzzles and ...
18
votes
13answers
945 views
Becoming a Better Bug-Fixer
I love being a programmer. There, I said it. However, with that said, I've realized lately that I really can't stand bug-fixing. At all.
In fact, while I'm developing something, my productivity is ...
17
votes
16answers
1k views
How to spend less time on debugging?
Following the Pareto rule, a programmer spends only 20% of his time for really useful things.
I spend 80% of my time debugging, fixing small things to get everything working.
Is there a way to spend ...
17
votes
8answers
465 views
Should debug code be left in place, always, or added only when debugging and removed when the bug has been found?
I, for one, only add debug code (such as print statements) when I'm trying to locate a bug. And once I've found it, I remove the debug code (and add a test case which specifically tests for that bug). ...
16
votes
10answers
876 views
Is it possible to speed- read code well?
Sometimes we have huge code listings to deal with, and I'm curious as to how the advanced, highly skilled programmers read code. And I'll say with an emphasis on debugging and finding issues.
15
votes
10answers
416 views
How common are “bandage” fixes?
Imagine the following scenario:
You've detected that your (or someone else's) program has a bug - a function produces the wrong result when given a particular input. You examine the code and can't ...
14
votes
6answers
898 views
Why not use the word bug instead of exception?
If we refer to exceptions as bugs, why not just call it a bug in the first place instead of an exception?
If in the code it's called exception and as soon as it occurs it's called a bug. Then why not ...
14
votes
5answers
635 views
Using A Debugger (An Interview Question)
During a phone interview I had, the interviewer was asking me questions about my previous job as a web developer. After discussing how I had used Eclipse to write Java Servlets, he asked me the ...
14
votes
10answers
420 views
How to teach your users/customers to send better error descriptions
I often have to deal with customers or users which are reporting errors in applications.
Most of the time their content is something useless as
ERROR!!!
x does not work
without much more ...
