Posted by Kevin Pang on 9/15/2008 | Comment Comments (2) | Tags: , ,

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!

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alice
alice on 9/17/2008 2:36 AM so very true. very well written.
sometimes you know there is something that it is bothering you but you just don't know how to put that in words, how to express your frustration. well, this is it.
Kevin Pang
Kevin Pang on 9/17/2008 2:51 AM @alice

Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. :-)

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