Debugging Fundamentals
Debugging is a core engineering skill. Treat it as a method, not trial and error.
Practical debugging flow
- Reproduce the issue reliably.
- Narrow the failure boundary.
- Check logs, traces, and recent changes.
- Form a hypothesis and test it.
- Fix root cause, not symptoms.
- Add tests and monitoring to prevent recurrence.
What to use
- Structured logs
- Breakpoints and step-through debugging
- Network inspectors
- Database query inspection
- Error tracking tools