Bugs are Magic Tricks

[Blacktiger]

Found the link to this blog post on daringfireball.:Bugs Are Magic Tricks (http://stevenf.com/2007/09/bugs_are_magic_tricks.php)

Edit: Be sure to read some of those comments too.

[AnotherJake]

That's really interesting, I never thought of it that way! Too bad that my debugging instinct still doesn't help me debunk magic tricks... But anyway, yeah, over the many years of debugging that I've done the number one thing that I've learned is that: I'm not seeing what it is that is causing it, but there is always a 99.9% chance that it is ENTIRELY MY FAULT, no matter how much it looks like it isn't. Arming one's debugging brain with that fact makes it much easier to track things down. A lot of times debugging is more debugging ones eyes and brain rather than the code itself. I've found hundreds of bugs over the years which were deceptive only from the standpoint that my brain could not perceive even the simplest of typos. Magic tricks indeed!

[Terrydil]

Interesting stuff. Now I just need to convince myself that when my program breaks, I'm really just getting a free show.

[AndyKorth]

1. That can't happen.
2. That doesn't happen on my machine.
3. That shouldn't happen.
4. Why is that happening?
5. Oh, I see.
6. How did that ever work?

Bwah hahaha.... that would be even more funny if I didn't spend 12 hours today at work stuck on numbers 2-4.

[monteboyd]

Hehe, very cool and interesting analogy.

Derren Brown is supremely awesome. His ultimate I-wish-I-could-do-that trick is where he manages to pay for things using only blank pices of paper instead of money.

[skyhawk]

http://www.debuggingrules.com/

everyone should read his book. It has helped SO much my last 2 and a half months debugging FEAR Perseus Mandate.