The Scientific Method

You tried everything you could think of. You don't see anything wrong with the program - seems like it should work. You read and reread your source code and fixed everything that looks out of place. You searched online and tried every reasonable solution you could find. You've already sunk so much time, effort, and emotion into getting this program right. All is not well. What went wrong?

The problem is you. Most people follow their instincts when they are debugging. The problem is, although your instincts can help you, they can also deceive you. They could trick you into searching for the problem in the places it's not, causing you to lose valuable time. The best way to combat yourself, is to approach debugging scientifically, by following the procedure outlined in The Scientific Method. This lesson will teach you what the scientific method is, and demonstrate how to use it in the context of debugging.

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