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I've noticed this kind of mindset helps with debugging. I use it to eliminate possibilities and to also keep going. The latter is especially important when I
by yters 18y ago
I've noticed this kind of mindset helps with debugging. I use it to eliminate possibilities and to also keep going. The latter is especially important when I think I've already tried all possibilities. It's a constant check that keeps me from thinking it's a problem on the computer's end, instead of a problem on my end. I can think of a number of times when I've been able to solve the bug precisely because I kept the right mindset.
- marcus 18y agoIf I had a dime for every time a co-worker said it was a problem with the compiler, I would have retired years ago...
- Agathos 18y agoThe problem with the compiler is that it implements a language whose rules, applied to the code I just wrote, yield a bug. That this language is consistent with the spec makes it no less a problem.
- Retric 18y agoI have only once found the problem to be bad memory on the test machine. But let me tell you the joy, figuring that out was hard to describe.
- blasdel 18y agoWorse is when you think you've proved it to be bad memory, but it turns to be something way more ridiculous. I dealt with a batch of 60 identical PCs that would occasionally fail in odd ways during the disk imaging process, and upon further inspection would fail memtest spectacularly. It didn't make sense, as they were stable when running an operating system, just not in memtest or while imaging. Plus the memory tested fine in other computers! I eventually figured out that while the BIOS was in real mode, the USB controller would write to extended memory when the USB mouse sent it events. They would have no problems with the mouse unplugged, and the problem went away with a BIOS update. It took a lot of yelling to figure this out!