The Nine Rules of Programming and Debugging
From Don Lancaster whose blog does not support permalinks so
click here and scroll down until you hit this entry for July 18, 2005:
Yesterday's bug fix deserves further comment. Here is one route towards correcting bizarre software bugs...
1. Make sure the problem is real; do not prejudge its cause.
2. Be able to reproduce the problem on demand.
3. Reduce the problem to its simplest form.
4. Make the problem worse.
5. Find the simplest difference that makes the problem go away.
6. Create a sledgehammer cure that makes the problem go away.
7. Take a hike. Literally!
8. Replace the sledgehammer cure with a more subtle and elegant one.
9. Thoroughly test for unintended side effects.
Spoken by someone who has worked in the trenches...
Posted by DaveH at July 19, 2005 12:08 AM