Debugging: The Five Stages of Grief
Debugging is a journey—a painful, soul-crushing journey that no developer escapes. It starts with hope (“This will be a quick fix”) and ends with despair (“Burn it all down”) before looping endlessly into the abyss. Psychologists call this the five stages of grief. Developers call it a normal Tuesday. Let’s break it down. ⸻ Denial: “It Works on My Machine” You just got a bug report. No way it’s real. “It works fine for me.” “Are you sure you ran it correctly?” “Try restarting your computer.” You run the code. It seems fine. You check again. No issues. Clearly, the bug reporter is mistaken. Maybe they’re using the wrong version? Maybe they’re cursed? Then, you test it in production.
Debugging is a journey—a painful, soul-crushing journey that no developer escapes. It starts with hope (“This will be a quick fix”) and ends with despair (“Burn it all down”) before looping endlessly into the abyss.
Psychologists call this the five stages of grief. Developers call it a normal Tuesday.
Let’s break it down.
⸻
- Denial: “It Works on My Machine”
You just got a bug report. No way it’s real.
- “It works fine for me.”
- “Are you sure you ran it correctly?”
- “Try restarting your computer.”
You run the code. It seems fine. You check again. No issues. Clearly, the bug reporter is mistaken. Maybe they’re using the wrong version? Maybe they’re cursed?
Then, you test it in production.
