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Fix your tools

ochagavia.nl

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Re: Fix your tools

#21

Using the debugger to understand/read code is invaluable. Seeing live stacks is so powerful compared to static analysis.

I'm not convinced. At times it can be valueable, but at times you can go around in circles, changing checking variables/break points all the time, but never finding the problem. Often thinking about the problem and what is important is what you need. Playing in the debugger is fun and feels like progress, but it can just be a distraction from understanding the real problem.

I'm not completely against debuggers, but in my experience they only are useful either to get the trace of the problem when it first occurs and then use static analysis until you have a theory the debugger can prove/disprove - but only prove/disprove that theory don't keep looking: you will feel productive but in fact be spinning circles

Re: Fix your tools

#24
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/349

This comic definitely speaks to me on a deep emotional level, but at the same time one of the things I like so much about computers is they're essentially unbreakable. Not that you can't get one into a non-working state, that is, of course, trivial but with the lone exception of deleting data, you can always restore a computer, the only tool being needed is some kind of boot disk. (Compare that to breaking a literal…

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Re: Fix your tools

#25
post #7

The caveat is that you might end up shaving a yak. More often than not I end up three or four tasks deep while trying to fix a tiny issue. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_UZFI-8D5uA

Weird. I happen to be watching Malcolm in the Middle and I find a link to Malcolm in the Middle

Re: Fix your tools

#26
My friend once told this joke:

> "A good programmer, when encountering a debugger bug," he paused, cleared his throat, and said solemnly: "should immediately drop the program they're debugging and start debugging the debugger instead!" The auditorium once again erupted in thunderous applause.

Re: Fix your tools

#30
post #10
post #7

The caveat is that you might end up shaving a yak. More often than not I end up three or four tasks deep while trying to fix a tiny issue. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_UZFI-8D5uA

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/349

And perhaps less well known to the Hacker News crowd, relevant Malcom in the Middle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W4NFcamRhM
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