Debugging

What Hacker News says

1. g947oJan 2026
   Obligatory mention of David J. Agans's "Debugging: The 9 Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems" where you can find dozens of such stories, including why their computer crashes when you wear a certain green T-shirt.
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2. sargstuffMay 2025
   Most of theses have free online versions available:

   The New Turing Omnibus, 66 Excursions in Computer Science[1]

   Code Complete [2]

   Debugging The 9 Indispensable Rules of Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems [3]

   The Pattern on the Stone [4]

   The Tinkertoy Computer and Other Machinations ... [8]

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   #5, #6 & #7 approach from different directions and "meet in middle":

      Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software [5]
   
      Nand2Tetris[6]
   
      The Little Schemer and Understanding Computation [7] 
   

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   ?? Links to 'editor'/ide cheetsheets ??

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   [1] : https://www.amazon.com/New-Turing-Omnibus-Sixty-Six-Excursio...

   [2] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Complete

   [3] : https://www.amazon.com/Debugging-Indispensable-Software-Hard...

   [4] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pattern_on_the_Stone

   [5] : https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...

   [6] : https://www.nand2tetris.org/

   [7] : https://vpb.smallyu.net/%5BType%5D%20books/The%20Little%20Sc...

   [8] : https://www.amazon.com/Tinkertoy-Computer-Other-Machinations...

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   When semester of programming projects isn't enough / couldn't wait for the programming langauge of choice : https://exercism.org/

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3. Fire-Dragon-DoLJan 2024
   There are good books about debugging, simple but effective.

   https://www.amazon.ca/Debugging-Indispensable-Software-Hardw...

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4. funcDropShadowSep 2023
   David Agans' book "Debugging" has a chapter called "Quit Thinking and Look". It is quite old by IT standards, but I cannot recommend it enough.
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5. cdzmSep 2022
   Reminds me of David J. Agans' nine rules of debugging, from his Debugging book:

   1. Understand the System

   2. Make it Fail

   3. Quit Thinking and Look

   4. Divide and Conquer

   5. Change One Thing at a Time

   6. Keep an Audit Trail

   7. Check the Plug

   8. Get a Fresh View

   9. If You Didn’t Fix it, It Ain’t Fixed

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6. tayllanJan 2022
   I recommend https://www.amazon.com.br/Debugging-Indispensable-Software-H...

   It has concrete points to focus when debugging and a bunch of examples for each. And it's easy to read as an introduction to the subject.

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