Comments on: Learn at home #3: building resilience and problem solving skills

By: Martin Bonner

Martin Bonner — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 07:44:48 +0000

In reply to W. H. Heydt. Also known as "cardboard programmer debugging" (it was reported that a Japanese firm had found that providing programmers with a cardboard cutout to explain the problem to improved productivity) or "rubber duck debugging" (popularized by Eric Lippert).

By: Martin Bonner

Martin Bonner — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 07:42:11 +0000

“Debugging is a key process for young people who are learning how to code” – Err, I no longer count as either “young”, or “learning how to code” (people have been paying me to write software for 40 years now). I still regard debugging as a key process.

By: W. H. Heydt

W. H. Heydt — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 05:28:17 +0000

Going all the way back to the 1970s, I referred to the debugging technique of talking through the code with someone else (generally another programmer, in my case) as the “two heads are thicker than one method” of debugging. It’s amazing how often, when leading someone else through your code, you spot your own error.