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Discussion on: Five programming tricks I learned from writers

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deathshadow60 profile image
deathshadow60

Great article.

A trick I picked up from writers was to proofread your code backwards when looking for bugs.

It sounds strange, but when proofreading professional writing, reading it backwards changes how the brain processes the information revealing bugs you might otherwise miss.

In this age of over-reliance on tools, many basic concepts of debugging aren't taught or learned hobbling beginners and many alleged "professionals" alike. As such when they butt heads with an issue the tool isn't handling for them the developers end up hobbled by their lack of the basics.

Something as simple as just reading through it backwards instead of blindly hoping that a tool will do the work for you is shockingly effective.

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scottshipp profile image
scottshipp

Now that's awesome! Thanks for the tip!