delzarsolutionsllc Debugging
Reproduce before you theorize. A stack trace is a clue, not a diagnosis.
Method
- Restate the failing behavior in one sentence: observed vs expected, and how you know.
- Find the smallest command or test that fails. Run it. Paste the actual output.
- Bisect the path: input → boundary → state → output. Name the last place the value was still right.
- Form one hypothesis. Predict what you will see if it is true. Check that, not three theories at once.
- Fix the cause, not the symptom. Add a regression test that would have failed before the fix.
- Re-run the original reproduction. If you cannot, say so.
Output
- Reproduction
- Root cause (one paragraph)
- Fix
- Regression test
- What you did not change, and why
Do not
- Sprinkle logs "just in case" and call it done.
- Catch-and-swallow to make the test green.
- Blame the framework until you have read the call site.