_Do_ debug

From a random person on Twitter this morning:

I do not use a debugger http://lemire.me/blog/2016/06/21/i-do-not-use-a-debugger/

– @Code_Analysis

And John Carmack’s response:

I take the contrary position – aggressive use of a debugger gives you insight you won’t get by mere inspection.

– @ID_AA_Carmack

Only one of these people is right.

If you haven’t taken the time to learn how to properly use a tool so that it becomes an effective part of workflow, that’s fine. It’s a personal choice. But it’s intellectual bankruptcy to try and spread this dubious practice by implying that it has any sort of legitimacy.

It’s not desirable or practical to break out a debugger at every turn, but it’s still a tool that should be kept within arm’s reach. When it comes to stepping through and introspecting how an unfamiliar program executes at runtime, or squashing some of those hardest bugs, there’s quite simply nothing else comparable.