For a new job is a common problem. When I was younger I always thought I must be stupid because basic setup, builds are done well and I just can't figure it out. Now I realize that most teams have random quality builds and likely there is some peculiarity that you can't google for. You need a buddy to keep asking, also pair programming is great, if you can sit with someone else and watch what they do it really helps.
Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#22Something I read forever ago and can't find a link for:
Keep a debugging journal. Take notes on every step you take and its results. It's easy to go in circles because you forget what you tried or forgot some detail of its outcome. Seeing a summary of what you already know helps you rule out possibilities and inspires new ones.
I often forget to do this or feel like "I can handle this bug without a crutch". Yet every time I actually journal the process it's helpful.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#23If you often find yourself requesting help, ask yourself "what would X do in this situation"? I often find I can anticipate the questions a colleague would ask me when I present them a problem I'm facing. Sometimes simply trying to answer those questions will reveal the solution. Good questions for any problem are:
* When did this start happening?
* What changed between when it was working when it stopped working?
* Have you asked person Y who worked on that change?
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#24rest more, sleep on the problem. usually I get the eurika moment when I'm away from the hard problem, not when I'm on it
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#25To improve your debugging, improve your mental model of the system you're tackling. The more you know about the state and flow of data at every point, the more you can reason about what's going on. I'm a particularly average programmer who is actually quite slow at banging out new code but I have fixed very difficult bugs in cloud deployments, libraries, firmware and realtime industrial systems just by laser focusing on what the system should be doing.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#26I guess the TL;DR is "Keep failing", but I struggle from heavy imposter syndrome myself. Well, definitely an imposter at the moment.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#27It's probably not so much your colleague that helps but the act of just talking through a problem, inanimate objects work too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging What also helps is just shutting the computer off and going for a walk, generally the moment you step away you'll figure it out!
> What also helps is just shutting the computer off and going for a walk, generally the moment you step away you'll figure it out! Underrated. Diffused mode of brain.
Working for a bigger company I’m hesitant to go for a walk as that would mean I need to stay longer in the afternoon/evening.
Even when going for a walk solves the problem, there is still little acceptance to count it as working hours.
I think this mentality should shift somehow as it would benefit the company and the employee.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#28Tests
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#29I felt like this before. Now it feels more a matter of time. I got significantly better by observing talented colleagues and picking up their strategies, some like:
Have a hypothesis and try to prove otherwise.
Start cordoning off parts of the codebase where the problem ISN'T.
Leave printf breadcrumbs to trace execution.
I find my less capable colleagues make the mistake of false assumptions, like some subroutine is executing or what state an object is in without proving it to themselves. That keeps your investigation from proceeding without luck on the larger problems.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get better at debugging/finding a solution?
#30Learn to use a debugger.
This advice would be very obvious to many, but I'm constantly surprised by how many of my coworkers don't know how to do this and test code by pushing logging statements into a production environment.