Overheard a senior dev say 'just read the error message' and it stuck with me way more than any tutorial ever did

I spent 3 hours debugging a syntax error last night because I skimmed the output instead of actually reading what it said, and now I wonder how many other beginners do the same thing.

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar74325d agoMost Upvoted

There's an old saying I read somewhere that debugging is like being the detective in a crime movie where you are ALSO the murderer. That error message is your first clue, and ignoring it means you're walking past the smoking gun. Just reading it out loud to yourself can make the dumbest mistakes obvious. So yeah, that senior dev was basically giving you a free shortcut to not hating your life for hours.

emmawood25d agoTop Commenter

Fair point @oscar743. Reading error messages out loud is embarrassingly effective.

rowanharris20d ago

Wait, reading it OUT LOUD is the trick, like talking to the rubber duck without the prop?