Building a Debugging Mindset

Almost by nature, bugs force us to operate beyond our knowledge and understanding. Even experienced developers show wide variance in capability when it comes to debugging software. What is it about debugging that is so inherently difficult? What makes some more successful at solving bugs? Importantly, what can we even do about it?

A large body of psychological research pioneered by Carol Dweck may hold the key: our perceptions about our own abilities influence our goals and behaviors. Beginning with a simple shift in thinking, we can improve our own abilities and help enable others to do the same.

A rough transcript of this talk at QConSF 2016 is available at https://9vx.org/post/building-a-debugging-mindset/

Transcript

58. •Linus Åkesson - Kernighan’s Lever, 2012 •Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow, 1991 •Carol Dweck - Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development, 1999 •Allison Kaptur - Effective Learning for Programmers, KiwiPyCon, 2014 •Brian W. Kernighan & P.J. Plauger - The Elements of Programming Style, 1974 •Renée McCauley et. al. - Debugging: a review of the literature from an educational perspective, 2008 •Maurice Wilkes - Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer, 1985