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JasonHuber
on - last edited on
I see a lot of programming students in a year. I have worked with hundreds of students in my role at Sage and many more in my other roles teaching programming outside of Sage. The one thing that always sets a successful programmer apart from a poor programmer is simple. It isn't intelligence or even a deep understanding of the language that makes a good programmer. It is the ability to recognize the cause of problems also called debugging.
Do tools will help?
As developers we need tools like Firebug, JSONLint.com, JSLint.com, and the simple developer tools that come with Chrome. Sometimes just paying attention to the red text during compilation is all that is needed along with a double click on the error. Most students still struggle with programming when things go wrong, but knowing about great tools is a must.
Is it the type of errors that we see with SalesLogix?
The errors that SalesLogix programmers experience are different than the typical programmer right? Well in short, not in my experience. Most of the errors experienced by programmers were the fault of the programmer. Quite literally the programmer typed something in wrong.
Getting to the point.
Many good programmers know they make mistakes and they acknowledge that fact readily. They admit it to themselves, to their instructor, or peers. When they finally find the answer they place the blame solely on their own shoulders for not already knowing the problem or for simply causing it in the first place. Even when the problem is a deficiency in the programming language or system being coded against, the programmer will admit that they simply did not know the deficiency existed and they will not make the mistake again.
Training
In training we try and offer as much debugging help that we can. In each class there is a specific lesson where we show the common techniques for finding an error. In the videos I record I make mistakes and many of them remain so you can see how I work my way out of those mistakes. It can never replace the hands on debugging you get when you make a mistake in class. If you figure it out on your own great! If you ask for help and watch as I debug, that is an awesome learning tool too. You just cannot get that from a book or video alone. That is why we have live instructors and machines for you to work with in each class.
What do you think?
Does this ring true with you or your
peers? Do you think you are a good debugger/troubleshooter and also flawless?
If so how did you get so good at debugging? 
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