Timeline for Real programmers use debuggers? [closed]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
42 events
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 18:43 | comment | added | Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED | @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft That's an incredibly opinionated statement. I used to use "integrated" debuggers all the time and prefer lldb over Eclipse any day of the week. I'm 23; am I "so far behind the times"? | |
| Jan 12, 2013 at 19:59 | comment | added | Pablo Ariel | @dietbuddha I understand, but I believe the more you code the more chances that you will need a debugger. Even if you are good or know the code enough to look right into the function or code that is failing, the debugger can make finding things faster, as do the subversion, the code analyzer, etc. Of course depending on the language and the kind of application you make, you may need it (or care) less. Maybe if your application makes use of complex deterministic math functions or if you perform custom memory management, then the debugger can help much more, it would be smart to use it often. | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 3:49 | comment | added | iteratingself | @PabloAriel That's why I said most of the time and not all the time. I do use the debugger sometimes, but not often. To me it is more a question of what your first approach is. Do you immediately jump into the debugger, or do you already know (within a few lines) where the problem is because you've read and understand the code. | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 3:35 | comment | added | Pablo Ariel | @dietbuddha there are things that cannot be easily fixed without a debugger, specially if you have a deadline for a project and you just landed in a company where all the code is a mess and there are not enough automated tests to cover all posibilities. Plus there are things that can't be automated, you can be working in a graphics rendering software or even simulations where all your perceptions are required to test everything you can. Of course you can easily guess the fix for many of them but you can't automate, and there are cases where you can automate but is not easy to find a fix. | |
| Jan 8, 2013 at 22:01 | comment | added | iteratingself | @PabloAriel I've worked on plenty of code that I didn't write. I've coded in many languages, scripting and compiled; and I've found simply reading the code and understanding the intent usually lead me to the bug, not always, but most of the time. Our automated tests usually tell me everything I need to know to fix a bug. | |
| Jan 7, 2013 at 18:25 | comment | added | Pablo Ariel | @dietbuddha it seems you never worked in code someone else wrote. BTW it seems those "good" programmers also never worked on other code than their own. | |
| Aug 12, 2012 at 17:09 | comment | added | user1249 | The basic problem is a computer never tells you anything unless instructed to. Using a debugger you can learn the things the programmer did not explicitly ask to be told. | |
| Aug 12, 2012 at 15:40 | history | edited | user | CC BY-SA 3.0 | removed unnecessary dead link |
| Jun 12, 2011 at 21:06 | comment | added | iteratingself | Perhaps you should have asked if good programmer's use debuggers. The best programmers I seen spend a fraction of time thinking about what the nature of the bug is and then jump immediately to the correct piece of code and fix it. They almost never use a debugger. | |
| May 31, 2011 at 21:23 | comment | added | BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft | Experienced programmers who "don't use debuggers" are probably thinking in terms of gdb/SoftICE, and have never used an actual integrated-debugger (and probably don't use an IDE for that matter). They are so far behind the times it's painful. | |
| May 29, 2011 at 12:15 | comment | added | janm | I've been developing since the mid '80s and using a debugger has always been rare for me. The only one I used semi-regularly was SoftICE, and looking back, it helped in many cases, but it was a crutch that delayed the reasoning about the problem that actually led to the solution. I see a developer depending on a debugger as a problem. | |
| May 25, 2011 at 15:41 | comment | added | Rein Henrichs | I like special badges. You forgot "voting to close". | |
| May 25, 2011 at 13:31 | comment | added | Smandoli | @Rein H. -- special Badge for you ... something about linking to a HILARIOUSLY FUNNY cartoon, while refraining from using that in an "answer", while voting the question down. | |
| May 21, 2011 at 22:00 | comment | added | blueberryfields | Most existing debuggers are old-fashioned, have crappy interfaces, and require the programmer know and understand concepts and paradigms that are difficult to master, and, nowadays, not fair to expect most programmers to use or know. As a result, most modern, experienced programmers, go to great lengths to learn the skills necessary to write the kind of code that rarely ever has to be debugged in a debugger, to avoid the pain of the experience. So "yes they use it" and "as little as possible" | |
| May 21, 2011 at 21:56 | comment | added | user1842 | I don't know why this was closed, but since I'm not 3k I can't vote to re-open. I won't add another me too answer, but I just use the debuggers that are built into my ide's, so I can use breakpoints when needed. | |
| May 21, 2011 at 19:46 | comment | added | Piskvor left the building | @Rein Henrichs: Nicely put. @OP: See also: The Story Of Mel (Some of you might have read this before; I know I have ;)) | |
| S May 21, 2011 at 19:08 | answer | added | jokoon | timeline score: 0 | |
| S May 21, 2011 at 19:08 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by jokoon | ||
| May 21, 2011 at 19:03 | history | closed | Steven A. Lowe Walter Macneil Rein Henrichs Adam Lear♦ | not constructive | |
| May 21, 2011 at 18:59 | answer | added | Thomas Padron-McCarthy | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 18:55 | answer | added | Martin james | timeline score: 2 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 18:49 | comment | added | Rein Henrichs | Real programmers, of course, use butterflies | |
| May 21, 2011 at 18:45 | answer | added | JeffO | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 18:12 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackProgrammer/status/72001858411053056 | ||
| May 21, 2011 at 17:59 | answer | added | Job | timeline score: 28 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:49 | answer | added | Frank Shearar | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:43 | answer | added | Darknight | timeline score: 12 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:38 | answer | added | Martin Wickman | timeline score: 1 | |
| S May 21, 2011 at 17:30 | history | suggested | user3571 | CC BY-SA 3.0 | removed noise |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:30 | answer | added | Adam Byrtek | timeline score: 17 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:15 | comment | added | E.Z. Hart | Neil - you keep saying you have no desire to use a debugger. Is this because you don't write bugs in the first place, because you instrument your code in ways that make a debugger unnecessary, or because you write your code in a way that makes "debug by reading source" easier/faster than using a debugger? Or is it the real-time situation Luke Graham mentions below? | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:09 | comment | added | Kevin | @Wooble: the basic question "do experienced programmers use debuggers" is a good one. It actually surprised me that it set off a mini holy war. | |
| May 21, 2011 at 17:04 | answer | added | Luke Graham | timeline score: 8 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:58 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S May 21, 2011 at 17:30 | |||||
| May 21, 2011 at 16:56 | history | migrated | from stackoverflow.com (revisions) | ||
| May 21, 2011 at 16:53 | comment | added | mj82 | It's like asking if experienced programmers are using keyboard... I don't understand what experience has to do with it - do you think they're Gods and create perfect- working code without errors from beginning? And even if so what does it mean to you - will you stop using debugeer when you need and star saying: "I don't use debugger so I'm reaa programmer"... :) BTW. I doubt any professional will answer such a question... | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:52 | answer | added | GolezTrol | timeline score: 2 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:51 | answer | added | Andrew Bullock | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:49 | answer | added | Kevin | timeline score: 4 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:48 | answer | added | mikerobi | timeline score: 46 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:47 | answer | added | hvgotcodes | timeline score: 7 | |
| May 21, 2011 at 16:45 | history | asked | Neil Butterworth | CC BY-SA 3.0 |