My latest article, Debugging and the Five Stages of Grief, has been published on Datamation! Here's a short excerpt from the intro:

As a programmer, you learn to accept bugs as a part of life. No matter
how hard you try, there is no simple way to avoid them. What separates
good programmers from bad programmers is not only their ability to
avoid bugs, but also their ability to deal with them when they arise.

When programmers are confronted with bugs in their applications, they
typically progress through what psychologists call the five stages of
grief. These stages are a series of emotional states people experience
when dealing with tragedy or loss in their lives.

It may seem a bit odd that something as common and benign as a bug
could trigger this type of emotional reaction, but, in a way, it makes
sense. Our applications are like our babies. We create them. We raise
them. We watch them grow, all in the hopes that, someday, they will be
able to set out on their own (and make some money to support us in our
old age).

Click here to read the rest of the article, and don't forget to leave your comments!