> In scientific research you start with a hypothesis, which can > be a guess > based on intuition. Until you start trying things (and/or > reading about > what others have tried), you really don't know what's going on, and it > can be very hard to decide where to start. > In de-bugging things are usually a lot simpler because the > thing you are > investigating is man-made and, unlike natural phenomena, can > ultimately > be understood by any human being with enough time and > patience. But there > are times when I'm at a complete loss and then I may resort to random > trial and error, just to get started.
Horses for courses. I cannot think of a single occasion in 30 years of debugging when I have resorted to random trial and error. I always try and have some hypothesis - it isn't always right, but most surprisingly often it is. > Not necessarily. The first experiment may rule out a whole bunch of > possibilities, and then you have to decide what to change > next and this process may go on for a long time. Certainly true, but one usually gets close pretty quickly, unless it is a nasty timing bug or something. > Yes, once in a while. And there is usually an element of randomness > involved, even when I already have a sense of direction. Again, horses for courses, I would never do that. > I guess changing things might help me think. Looking at the > code usually doesn't help me at all. Looking at code always helps me - it's a map of the land and tells me things about it, even if they are not directly relevant or even conciously recognised. So now we agree that different people go about this in different ways are we any further forward? L. - Automatic footer for [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe discuss To join the announcements list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe announce To receive a help file, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] help This list is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/ If you have any problems or questions, please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
