I just spent half a day troubleshooting a bug that crashed my app. I went through logs, rewrote sections of my code, and added console logs everywhere, only to discover that the issue was a simple typo in a variable name. I felt both dumb for letting it happen and relieved to finally find the problem. Why do these small mistakes always turn into such big headaches? Do you guys have any tips for catching these errors faster or avoiding this kind of madness in the future?
5 Answers
This kind of stuff happens to everyone, even seasoned devs. One time, I spent a week solving a bug that turned out to be a single invisible character! Setting up a strict linting pipeline can help catch these errors before they become major headaches.
You might want to consider using TypeScript if you’re primarily working with JavaScript. It can help catch these kinds of mistakes earlier in the development process!
I usually tackle this by using better coding practices. For example, using a proper coding font makes it easier to distinguish similar-looking characters, and naming variables clearly helps avoid typos. Also, frequent console logging can help track down discrepancies early.
Exactly! A good editor should highlight matching identifiers. If one is off, you know there's a typo!
Was this in JavaScript? So many of us have been there! It's all part of the learning process, though—next time you’ll spot it faster!
Yep, it was JavaScript!
Almost don't even have to ask, lmao.
Sounds like a normal day in programming! Typos can be sneaky, especially in languages like JavaScript where variable names matter a lot.
Mini-rant: I really dislike fonts that make it hard to distinguish between I, 1, l, and |. Ugh!