How do YOU cope with the stress of errors?

Panama · Post by **Panama** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:19 am

Im sure we've all been there at some point, you're programming away on your latest project, you compile it and get 1 or more error messages. You don't know how to fix the problem and are getting increasingly frustrated with trying out possible solutions only to find they don't work, then ofcourse if you're really unlucky, it builds fine but crashes whilst running.

What I want to know is how do the people of The Chaos Rift deal with these situations, do you go and get a cup of tea and have a 10 minute break to cool off, or do you ram your fist straight through your monitor?

Panama

gordon · Post by **gordon** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:32 am

I personally try and debug it for about 10 minutes and then if that fails call it a night and go do something else.

Pickzell · Post by **Pickzell** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:34 am

I crawl up in an emo corner and wish the world would leave me alone while I cry extensively. /sarcasm

If an error is so bad I can't fix it, I go on here and ask for help.

Post by **trufun202** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:41 am

I keep hacking away and usually figure things out. But, if I'm really stumped, I'll take a break and try to rethink my approach. A cup of coffee and a whiteboard will do wonders!

I've also solved quite a few things overnight, by having a moment of clarity when I first wake up or even in a dream.

I hate when I go to bed after a long night of coding. It takes me a good hour to wind down, and then I have the SAME dream OVER and OVER again about coding this ONE issue, about 900 times. Does that happen to anyone else?

wearymemory · Post by **wearymemory** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:42 am

Pickzell wrote:I crawl up in an emo corner and wish the world would leave me alone while I cry extensively. /sarcasm

If an error is so bad I can't fix it, I go on here and ask for help.

Yeah, but don't do that too much or you'll get a reputation like avansc's

zeid · Post by **zeid** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:10 pm

I usually try and power through the code to fix it in one sitting. I rarely take a break if there is an error because sometimes when I come back to it I can't recall for the life of me what the hell i did. If I don't have the time to fix it and i'm not getting anywhere I actually go to the effort of reverting the program to a previously working state. Then when I come back I can re-attempt it and have a few fresh outlooks as to how to go about it. If it's a really bad logic error or I can't recall how to do something I ask friends, but usually with a logic error this doesn't help very often as they would have to go through too much code. In the case of logic errors I start using the built in IDE tools to go through and check whats going on at the steps that I know the error is comming from. I like regularly debugging my code even when all the logic isn't there just to make sure I'ts working.

Bludklok · Post by **Bludklok** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:35 pm

If its something thats really got me stuck I'll just go play a game until I'm calm enough to try it again. I have a big sheet of plexi-glass screwed right next to me on my wall that I use as a whiteboard which usually helps with a lot of things.

Post by **hurstshifter** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:35 pm

trufun202 wrote:I keep hacking away and usually figure things out. But, if I'm really stumped, I'll take a break and try to rethink my approach. A cup of coffee and a whiteboard will do wonders!

I've also solved quite a few things overnight, by having a moment of clarity when I first wake up or even in a dream.

I hate when I go to bed after a long night of coding. It takes me a good hour to wind down, and then I have the SAME dream OVER and OVER again about coding this ONE issue, about 900 times. Does that happen to anyone else?

+1 on taking a break to rethink. I would even go as far as to say take a break and completely forget about it for an hour or more. Go play a game or go outside for a while. When you come back to the program you will be much less frustrated and I find this ends up leading me to the issue much more quickly than hulking out and punching holes in my wall.

ultimatedragoon69 · Post by **ultimatedragoon69** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:11 pm

If its something that constantly get's in the way and i can't figure it out. I end up bouncing ideas off of other people. like asking my brother for help for some reason helps me figure out what the problem is lol. (my brother doesn't know anything about computers or programming).

Pickzell · Post by **Pickzell** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:07 pm

ultimatedragoon69 wrote:If its something that constantly get's in the way and i can't figure it out. I end up bouncing ideas off of other people. like asking my brother for help for some reason helps me figure out what the problem is lol. (my brother doesn't know anything about computers or programming).

Dude your avatar is staring into my soul, please fix it.

Post by **dandymcgee** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:33 pm

Errors? I don't get errors. I get catastrophic malfunctions. The only solution is for me to sit here staring at my monitor until I either figure out how to make my project compile, or I no longer have the strength hold my eye lids open.

Edit: Don't try this at home.

Post by **Kros** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:57 pm

I usually get past compile time errors without too much hassle. What ends up getting me is design/implementation issues or some sort of bug. If I have a hard time fixing those, then I'll just get my brain off the issue till the next work day; usually some solution decides to make itself known.

trufun202 wrote:I hate when I go to bed after a long night of coding. It takes me a good hour to wind down, and then I have the SAME dream OVER and OVER again about coding this ONE issue, about 900 times. Does that happen to anyone else?

Not me. And, ouch.

M_D_K · Post by **M_D_K** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:23 pm

I take a break by surfing programming/linux/embedded systems/computer graphics articles on stumbleupon(also surf porn if the usual route doesn't work)
Usually when I'm doing that how to fix it hits me

Post by **Falco Girgis** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:17 pm

When I first started, that used to happen a lot. I would ask somebody who was better than I was or post on the forum. But slowly I became more and more competent. I have not asked somebody for help regarding a compiler error in several years.

If you're flexing that programming muscle in your brain, there will eventually come a point when you get familiar enough with the C/++ compiler errors to either 1) know exactly what you screwed up on 2) know exactly how to google and find your answer in a matter of seconds or 3) know why what you're doing doesn't work.

bitsweep · Post by **bitsweep** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:54 pm

I have to agree with Gyro on this. After enough time, you start to get a "feel" for what the compiler-errors actually mean. It's a question of experience, and of learning to speak "Compiler-ese" fluently enough to understand what it's trying to tell you. If you get stuck on a build-hiccup for more than a few minutes though, get up and away from the machine for a little bit. It's better for your eyes and brain to focus on something else for a bit.

Now if it's not a build-error, but a run-time issue with the "Chair-to-Keyboard-Interface", that can be a right royal pain in the ass. I generally try to talk myself through the code execution, as if I were explaining the issue to my Dad. (He's technically savvy and understands logic-flow, but isn't a programmer.) Having to re-phrase it for someone else often makes the bugs blindingly obvious.

And to TruFun: You are not the only one who debugs in his sleep; sometimes my dreams are more like segfaults.

Peace,

Elysian Shadows

How do YOU cope with the stress of errors?

How do YOU cope with the stress of errors?

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