this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Programmer Humor

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is why I write down the questions I'm trying to answer in a text doc, e.g:

Where is this network call comming from? ../some-api-call.js Why do you think it's causing a 403?

  • I am authenticating correctly
  • the object seems to exist in s3
  • the bucket name is wrong

Etc. So if I lose my thought (all the time), I know exactly what and why I was doing it. Also stops you from re-investigating things you forget

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It's a very valid advice.

I also try to do it for complicated bug and it helps me to keep a track of what I tried to do and my hypothesis.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I often take notes in the form of "TODO" comments, as I work through a problem. Then I have my editor set up to highlight them, and my git asks me if I'm sure I want to commit them. Works pretty well with keeping my thought process straight

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's also an amazing way of duck-debugging. By the time you write down what the problem is, you'll figure out where's the issue or at least what you should try next.

"X is giving me an error, I checked X's logs. X communicates with Y... Oh, I need to check Y next!"

And if you can't figure it out, you have the problem and everything you tried documented so you can ask for help and get answers effectively.