[kotxig]

I am surprised to find in these comments that using the debugger routinely and by default isn't a popular idea. I couldn't do my job as well as I do without having the reflex to use the debugger. I shouldn't be surprised though, the last time I watched a coworker roll his face on the keyboard trying to debug something the conversation went something like:

  - Me: Just use the debugger...
  - Him: But it's hard and annoying to use the debugger
  - Me: It's hard and annoying not having the skills or reflex to use the debugger by default
  - Him: ... ok I agree ... continues rolling face on the keyboard and add print statements everywhere

I think much of the sentiment in these comments is sounding like "that's not how I work so I will defend myself". Just learn how to use your debugger and integrate it into your work flow. You don't need a special IDE to use a debugger in most languages if that's the perceived problem.

[ahelwer]

I’ve found corporate software environments anathema to learning. The daily standup will not reward “yesterday I learned how to use a debugger” or “yesterday I spent time reading documentation” but it does reward “yesterday I spent hours grinding out the root cause of a bug”. There are other reasons, of course - but fundamentally the messaging is to get it done with as little learning as possible. You should know it all already! Learning, it should also be said, is very very hard when you are burnt out. And most of the learning capacity is used up learning non-transferable knowledge about internal-only APIs and systems you will never use again.

The solution is probably employer-funded sabbaticals but since those are rare people just settle for quitting and poking around at their own projects for a while.

Now that I’m more of what you’d call a “senior” developer I realize the absolute importance of taking time to set up your development environment so compiling, debugging, unit tests, prototyping etc. are as seamless as possible - the benefits to productivity and general happiness are manifold! But having the clout to invest more “non-productive” time upfront so your overall productivity is much higher is not usually afforded to devs fresh out of school who tend to just grind it out.

[gjulianm]

I don't use a debugger routinely and by default. First reflex is to add logging, telemetry or tests because those are useful when another issue pops in a similar place: instead of attaching a debugger (which might alter the program flow/timings), recreating the flow (which may or may not be easy) and setting breakpoints, I just read the data that I already have, which usually guides me (or other coworkers) in the debugging.

For me, the debugger only comes out when those tools don't work quickly, I'm pretty lost or I'm inspecting the code flow of third party code.