As a developer, encountering bugs are more natural than micturating in the morning. Having the skill to debug and troubleshoot is essential in every developer’s career. Whether you are working on a simple project or a complex enterprise application, you will inevitably encounter bugs and issues that need to be resolved. The capability to snappily and effectively identify and fix problems is pivotal for delivering high-quality software on time and within budget.

Debugging vs Troubleshooting

Many developers say troubleshooting is debugging and vice versa. Emn, maybe but not always, there are some tiny key differences and where they applied that we need to clarify.

Troubleshooting is the process of identifying and resolving problems or issues within a system or application. It involves identifying the cause of a problem, and then taking steps to fix or mitigate it. Debugging on the other hand is a specific type of troubleshooting that is focused on identifying and resolving errors or bugs in software or computer systems.

Troubleshooting and debugging are closely related, as the process of troubleshooting often leads to the identification of bugs or errors that need to be debugged. The main difference between the two is that troubleshooting is a more general process that can be applied to a wide range of problems, not only in software development while debugging is specifically focused on identifying and resolving errors or bugs in software or computer systems. I hope you got the point.

The Debugging Process

When debugging, the goal is to identify the specific line of code or configuration that is causing the problem and to fix or modify it. It is a step-by-step process that involves the following steps:

• Identifying the problem: The first step in debugging is to identify the problem. This could be an error message, a crash, or unexpected behavior in the application.
• Reproducing the problem: Once you have identified the problem, the next step is to reproduce it. This is important because it allows you to confirm that the problem exists and to narrow down its cause.
• Isolating the problem: After reproducing the problem, the next step is to isolate it. This means finding the specific code or component that is causing the problem.
• Finding the cause: Once the problem has been isolated, the next step is to find the cause. This involves analyzing the code or component that is causing the problem and identifying the root cause.
• Fixing the problem: The final step is to fix the problem. Making changes to the code that is causing the problem to resolve the issue.

Common Debugging Techniques

Now that we have a clear understanding of the debugging process, let’s take a look at some common debugging techniques that can be used to identify and resolve issues.

Console Logging: One of the simplest and most effective debugging techniques is console logging that’s what I use all day. This involves adding print statements or console.log() calls to your code in order to output information to the console. This can be useful for tracking the flow of execution, identifying variable values, and more.

Breakpoints: Another common debugging technique is using breakpoints. A breakpoint is a point in your code where execution will stop, allowing you to inspect variables, call stacks, and more. Breakpoints can be set in your code editor or integrated development environment (IDE) and can be used to pause execution at specific points in your code.

Debugging Proxies: A debugging proxy is a tool that allows you to intercept and inspect network traffic between your application and a server. This can be useful for debugging issues with API calls, identifying issues with headers, and more.

Debugging Tools: Many modern web browsers come with built-in debugging tools that can be used to inspect and debug web pages. These tools can be used to view the HTML and CSS of a page, inspect the JavaScript code, and more.

Profiling: Profiling is a technique that allows you to measure the performance of a software application. This can be useful for identifying bottlenecks, memory leaks, and other performance issues.

Memory Leak Detection: Memory leaks are a common issue in software development. These occur when a program allocates memory for an object, but fails to deallocate it when it is no longer needed. This can lead to a gradual increase in memory usage and eventually, the application may crash.

Unit Testing: Unit testing is a technique that involves writing automated tests for individual units of code. These tests can be run automatically, and they can be used to identify and fix bugs early in the development process. This can save time and resources in the long run, as it is much easier to fix a bug that has just been introduced, rather than trying to track down and fix a bug that has been present in the codebase for a long time.

Remote Debugging: Remote debugging is a technique that allows you to debug an application running on a remote machine. This can be useful for debugging issues that only occur in a production environment or for debugging issues on mobile devices.

Wrap-up

Debugging and troubleshooting are essential skills for every developer. The ability to quickly and effectively identify and fix problems is crucial for delivering high-quality software on time and within budget. In this article, we have explored some of the most common debugging and troubleshooting techniques that every developer should know. It’s important to note that the debugging process is not always linear and you may need to go back and forth between steps, or even repeat steps multiple times, in order to fully understand and resolve a problem.