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Just that I used it at all. There's a contingent of engineers who feel using a debugger is a waste of time and or a sign of weakness. They're the ones who like

Just that I used it at all. There's a contingent of engineers who feel using a debugger is a waste of time and or a sign of weakness. They're the ones who like to stare at code and "run it in their heads" and dump crazy amounts of "got here" into the logs. Evidently this guy is one of them.

bb88 3y ago
There's two reasons I think. (I have ~25 years experience) 1. In your code should know what the edge cases, loop condition issues, etc. I think this is fair. If you don't know the edge case failures when you write your code, you could end up with something like the Microsoft Xune that shutdown for an entire day over a leap year failure. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/original-microsoft-zune-confounded-by-leap-year-shuts-down/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/original-mic... Keep in mind that code review will probably not catch all bugs, it's up to the original coder to write it. This is particularly true if you're the best person on your team, say. Or you're working at a startup where no one can really review your code other than you. On the other hand well coded unit tests should help you here. 2. It's toxic brogrammer culture there -- where leetcode scores are all that matter. In which case it's probably best you were passed over.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  > 1. In your code should know what the edge cases, loop condition issues, etc. Perhaps, but: > It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. * https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/11/18/know-trouble/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/11/18/know-trouble/ Sometimes you want to go to 'first principles' and reassess your assumptions. As a sysadmin I sometimes I resort to making sure the thing is actually physically plugged in (OSI Layer 1), the move up the stack with regards to how the bits flow.
jansan 3y ago
I am one of these engineers, but I consider the "cowboy style" a weakness and bad habit and would never ever judge another engineer over using a debugger.
nunez 3y ago
I am personally not a fan of debuggers but I would never ding someone over using them unless it was obvious they couldn't debug without them.
javajosh 3y ago
Strange. Whenever I use a debugger I always get a lot out of it. The code never quite executes exactly the way you envision, even with passing tests. In Java, there is a strange emphasis on classes but I've always felt objects are more fundamental, and the debugger is the way to see them and their interactions.

bb88 3y ago

There's two reasons I think. (I have ~25 years experience) 1. In your code should know what the edge cases, loop condition issues, etc. I think this is fair. If you don't know the edge case failures when you write your code, you could end up with something like the Microsoft Xune that shutdown for an entire day over a leap year failure. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/original-microsoft-zune-confounded-by-leap-year-shuts-down/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/original-mic... Keep in mind that code review will probably not catch all bugs, it's up to the original coder to write it. This is particularly true if you're the best person on your team, say. Or you're working at a startup where no one can really review your code other than you. On the other hand well coded unit tests should help you here. 2. It's toxic brogrammer culture there -- where leetcode scores are all that matter. In which case it's probably best you were passed over.

throw0101a 3y ago
> 1. In your code should know what the edge cases, loop condition issues, etc. Perhaps, but: > It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. * https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/11/18/know-trouble/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/11/18/know-trouble/ Sometimes you want to go to 'first principles' and reassess your assumptions. As a sysadmin I sometimes I resort to making sure the thing is actually physically plugged in (OSI Layer 1), the move up the stack with regards to how the bits flow.

jansan 3y ago

I am one of these engineers, but I consider the "cowboy style" a weakness and bad habit and would never ever judge another engineer over using a debugger.

nunez 3y ago

I am personally not a fan of debuggers but I would never ding someone over using them unless it was obvious they couldn't debug without them.

javajosh 3y ago

Strange. Whenever I use a debugger I always get a lot out of it. The code never quite executes exactly the way you envision, even with passing tests. In Java, there is a strange emphasis on classes but I've always felt objects are more fundamental, and the debugger is the way to see them and their interactions.