As any software developer knows, errors and bugs can be frustrating and time-consuming to fix. But what happens when that error occurs? Do you panic or do you take a step back and think about how to approach the problem? In this article, we'll dive into the world of debugging, exploring why it's essential for swift app development, and provide practical tips on how to get better at it.
What is Debugging?
Debugging is the process of running your code step by step with a debugging tool like Xcode, to identify the exact point where you made a programming mistake. This allows you to understand what corrections need to be made in your code, and debugging tools often enable you to make temporary changes so you can continue running the program.
Why Do We Debug?
There's no magic solution for bugs. Usually, it takes a combination of googling, logging our code, and checking our logic against what's really happening. Debugging helps break complex problems into simple ones where the use of a debugger points out what the bug or fault is, where it occurred, and how it was caused.
How Can We Get Better at It?
Testing
One effective way to debug your code is by adding code tests. These come in many varieties, including unit tests, integration tests, functional tests, and more. These types of tests are designed to save time and check whether the development environment is running correctly. When tests don't pass, it always indicates a bug that needs to be fixed.
Pay Attention to Error Messages
In almost every development environment, if your code fails, you'll likely encounter an error message that explains why your code is failing. Good error messages are helpful and provide a file and line number that represents the source of the problem, whereas bad error messages are undecipherable and don't add up to anyone but the one who programmed it in the first place.
Googling
As beginners, the possibility that our problem has never been encountered before is pretty low. It's worth leaning on the wisdom of others who came before. If the error message you get isn't clear to you, or you can't figure out why you're getting it, an honest initiative would be to Google it.
Official Documentation
Official docs are typically the most complete and updated source of knowledge for any given tool. It sometimes may feel tedious or overwhelming to go through technical information, but in the long run, I think it saves time.
Debugging Tools
Debugging tools are usually built into the integrated development environments (IDEs) developers use to write code. There are also debuggers that are included with a number of online web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, for debugging web applications.
Check Your Logic
If we've made it this far, then it's a good solution to go through your code line by line, reading it and explaining it out loud as you go. This is known as the rubber duck technique. The idea is to force yourself to truly read your code rather than just assuming you know what it does.
Error Handling
Another method of debugging your code is using error handling. Code that doesn't use error handling will often crash when it encounters a bug. You can use error handling to catch an error and log the error data within a database before it has a chance to crash the application.
Commenting Things Out
Often times you'll end up turning functional code into comments that won't be executed. You begin by commenting out code in the part of the production environment where you think the problem is until the error stops happening. Then you just add each line of code back, one at a time, until the bug shows up again, and once it does, you've pinpointed where the bug is occurring.
Asking for Help
While this is often the last method on the list, it's one of the most important and is commonly overlooked. Most times, you will be working with other developers on the same project who may know more about some of the code than you do. Even if they don't, they may have worked on the part of the application that has the bug. But you won't know unless you ask.
By following these steps and tips, you'll become a master at debugging your swift app development projects, saving time and reducing frustration in the process. Remember, debugging is an essential skill for any software developer, and with practice, you'll get better at it.