Friday, October 27, 2006

Learn form your bugs

We are humans, so we make errors. There is no perfect software, meaning that there is no perfect programmer. Yet, there are immense differences between us. At one end there are the ones that never release a software because it is to buggy to be of real use, at the other end the ones that release almost-perfect software.
If you want to go closer to perfection, the first step is to learn how to learn from your mistakes. Only then you'll be able to make progress. Every error is an opportunity to:
  • Learn about the framework you're using - a bug may appear because you do not understand correctly the underlying technology. So it is an opportunity to improve your knowledge about it
  • Learn about the kind of mistakes you make - there are patterns in your errors, like keeping forgetting to initialize an array, making typos etc. Learn about them, so you can pay more attention to those certain facts when developing
  • Learn about the quality of your code from a reader's perspective - while debugging, you must read the code. You will observe its readability and the points that need improvement
  • Learn about how you solve problems - debugging is problem solving. It requires systematic approach, deep thinking etc. You can learn more about the effectiveness of your method, gradually improving it
So, you should be very happy when encountering a error! Not really, but try to treat as opportunities rather than problems, because int the long run it makes all the difference in the world.

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