Dev Tool Bugs, Assumptions, and a Tiny Bit of Advice

[Jon]

I agree: explaining a problem to a third party (even just a cat) can do 
wonders.  One is forced to focus on the problem, as you are forced to 
describe it very carefully (especially if you are talking to a cat).

:)

Jon


Dan Shafer wrote:

> A relatively new user posted the following comment on the list a  
> couple of days ago.
>
>> > I have the habit to think that I did something wrong before thinking
>> > it's a bug in the tool I use (perhaps a not so good habit :-)).
>>
> I, too, have tended to begin with the assumption that if my program  
> isn't working, it's my fault and not that of the development tool or  
> language I'm using. Over the years, I've found more and more that  
> that is not the case.
>
> I'm managing a tech project right now that's being written in Java  
> (not my choice). The programmer is a really seasoned pro. The project  
> was estimated at two weeks, planned for two months and is now in its  
> 14th week without a beta being completed. Lots of reasons for that  
> (and I've been called in to try to stem the bleeding and get the  
> thing finished). But in reviewing what's happened over the past six  
> weeks or so, it's clear that well over half of the delays have been  
> caused by two things: (a) bugs in code to which the programmer does  
> not have source access; (b) problems in the development environment.  
> Java is particularly sensitive, e.g., to where it expects to find  
> things and how it behaves when it can't.
>
> The moral: assume nothing. There is no such thing as bug-free code  
> that does anything non-trivial. There's just code whose bugs have not  
> yet been located.
>
> Years of stress and far too many gray hairs led me to this bit of  
> advice I shared last weekend at RevCon West during my opening  
> keynote. I have a hard-and-fast rule NEVER to wrestle with a bug by  
> myself for longer than one hour. If I can't fix it in an hour, I get  
> help...from this list, from another programmer, or even by asking my  
> wife to sit patiently while I go over my code line by line  
> (incomprehensible jibberish to her), during the course of which it is  
> amazing how many things suddenly crystallize.
>
> I was gratified and amazed at how many experienced programmers sought  
> me out to thank me for that insight at the show, so I figured it  
> would be worth sharing here.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dan Shafer, Revolution Consultant and Author
> http://www.shafermedia.com
> Get my book, "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought"
> From the RunRev store
>
>
>
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