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Chrome developer tools to master

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Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#71

Post by Macha »

pvg wrote: post #41
0xfeba wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do. I just verify. They can also use Firefox or any other browser's tools if they are more comfortable. We are not hiring junior devs, and even if so I would still probably ask. But experienced front end devs should know how to use a browser's debugger. Like others said, it's a flag that they potentially don't have problem solving skills. I mean, if they put a single console.log near what they think is going wrong…

if they resort to console.logs, they are just randomly trying things. How does that follow? It's just another way to check the state of a program at a given point.

And significantly faster in many cases if you already know what you're looking for. The Chrome debugger can be painfully slow debugging some of the ember applications in work - I have a video of it taking nearly a minute to respond to keyboard input in a deep stack (The firefox devtools perform a little better on the same codebase).

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#72

Post by Merad »

0xfeba wrote: post #68
tchaffee wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know Chrome debugger because one of the first things I did was to get VS Code to control Chrome debugger so I can set breakpoints while looking at code with the font and highlighting I'm familiar with. Weeding out applicants is dangerous if you're not trying hard to disprove first impressions or wrong answers.

If you could explain or show how you connected VS code to act as the debugger for Chrome I would let you and you could use VS code instead. I would also be impressed. I didn't mean to imply they had to use Chrome.

> I would also be impressed.

There's nothing to it, most people just apparently don't know that it's possible. Chrome, Firefox, and I assume all the major browsers support remote debugging, your IDE just need to know how to send them commands. All you need to do is install the Chrome/FF debugging plugin and click 'Start Debugging'. A settings file should open for you to configure the url to launch.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#73

Post by chiefalchemist »

majormajor wrote: post #16
judofyr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t you just ask them if they have experience with the Chrome debugger? And if that’s such a deal breaker for you, you can teach them in the first week? I mean, it’s not like the Chrome debugger is such a complicated beast. Even if you have no experience with it, you can probably learn 90% of the useful tricks in a few hours.

I don't read them as looking for experience with one specific tool so much as a systematic approach vs shotgun just-print-out-everything-everywhere aimlessness.

Well. If you don't know the code and someone is putting a gun to your head, is the shotgun approach a legit surprise?

I hear ya. But it feels like one wrong move and they're out. That doesn't make them bad or untrainanle. Does it?

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#74

Post by tchaffee »

0xfeba wrote: post #68
tchaffee wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know Chrome debugger because one of the first things I did was to get VS Code to control Chrome debugger so I can set breakpoints while looking at code with the font and highlighting I'm familiar with. Weeding out applicants is dangerous if you're not trying hard to disprove first impressions or wrong answers.

If you could explain or show how you connected VS code to act as the debugger for Chrome I would let you and you could use VS code instead. I would also be impressed. I didn't mean to imply they had to use Chrome.

How would I do that when I was handed your laptop? I would assume that's part of the constraints and revert to console.log, like I usually do when it's not my laptop.

Good interviews are hard to design. You have to be super careful that you are testing for what you really think you are. I've let people use their own laptop, search for answers, use StackOverflow, and ask me questions. Just like we all do in real life.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#75

Post by tchaffee »

Merad wrote: post #72
0xfeba wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you could explain or show how you connected VS code to act as the debugger for Chrome I would let you and you could use VS code instead. I would also be impressed. I didn't mean to imply they had to use Chrome.

> I would also be impressed. There's nothing to it, most people just apparently don't know that it's possible. Chrome, Firefox, and I assume all the major browsers support remote debugging, your IDE just need to know how to send them commands. All you need to do is install the Chrome/FF debugging plugin and click 'Start Debugging'. A settings file should open for you to configure the url to launch.

There are some details though. If you are using webpack you need to use the right 'devtool' settings to get the source line numbers to match up.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#76

Post by tchaffee »

allannienhuis wrote: post #64
tchaffee wrote: post #55

I am getting an "NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID" error when trying to view the article.

I got a bunch of those errors in chrome a year or so ago - turned out I was on a really old version of Chrome (I didn't realise auto-update wasn't working on their Beta stream at the time), and some ssl cert chain configs became stale (or something like that). Updating my browser fixed it.

I'll check it out, but I get frequent updates for Chromium and Chrome. I'm usually on the latest stable release. Thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#77

Post by brobinson »

hartator wrote: post #57
0xfeba wrote: post #3

I implemented two simple interview tests in order to weed out people who can't do simple debugging. In one, I hand them my laptop and give them a basic create-react-app sample that uses fetch on a remote URL, but there's a typo in the URL. I tell them it's supposed to fetch a remote REST API and parse the JSON but it doesn't work--how would you fix it? So far, two ways to pass: Just look at the source code, or use th…

Lol, depending on the typo in the URL, I would probably think the service is just down, and it's not part of test.

I would be scared of a service where a 404 response means it's down.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#78

Post by NVRM »

swaggyBoatswain wrote: post #42

Chrome developer tools is just a godsend. Its so much better than any other debugger I've worked with, and miles better than firefox debugging tool I personally use a chromium based browser called slimjet to do all of my development. It runs off v55 I think which is like 5 versions behind chrome. But its nice to have a dedicated app for debugging. One tool that I find I use everyday is this: http://lab.maltewasserman…

Wrong. Try again.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#79

Post by pvg »

0xfeba wrote: post #70
pvg wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if they resort to console.logs, they are just randomly trying things. How does that follow? It's just another way to check the state of a program at a given point.

so far That is, the people who start entering in console.logs, are entering them in in random places, not really troubleshooting.

Right but 'so far' for such a hazing interview setup doesn't say much. You handed the candidate your laptop and a bug they don't know from Adam (is it some tricky shadowed var thing? Weird truthiness thing? It's a dumb typo! But only you know that) and are hovering over their shoulder and harumphing when they start typing 'console.'. Or you tell them they're doing it wrong if they start checking something only you already know is not the problem. This all measures something but it's probably not 'problem solving ability' of the sort that's useful for a web front end programmer.

Re: Chrome developer tools to master

#80

Post by 0xfeba »

Merad wrote: post #72
0xfeba wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you could explain or show how you connected VS code to act as the debugger for Chrome I would let you and you could use VS code instead. I would also be impressed. I didn't mean to imply they had to use Chrome.

> I would also be impressed. There's nothing to it, most people just apparently don't know that it's possible. Chrome, Firefox, and I assume all the major browsers support remote debugging, your IDE just need to know how to send them commands. All you need to do is install the Chrome/FF debugging plugin and click 'Start Debugging'. A settings file should open for you to configure the url to launch.

That's a lot more effort than lots of people bother with. At least, from the pool of people we interview. But I have no say in that.
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