Keep a Bug Journal. Really.

Quick tip for a Friday: Keep a bug journal.

Especially when you're just starting out, it can be a valuable learning experience to write down the bugs you encounter and how you fix them. By detailing the solution to yourself, you'll be able to draw conclusions and make inferences about the languages and frameworks you're using, the project you're working on, and your own habits as a developer.

There's an old adage that's something along the lines of "the longer it takes you to find a bug, the more trivial its fix". Experienced devs will tell you this is often true, and it means that 5 minutes after you fix a really nasty bug, you've often forgotten what the fix was. Keeping a bug journal, even if you never open it again, will help you commit to memory what you just did.

Because you will encounter similar bugs. And there's nothing more frustrating than encountering an issue you've seen before and not remembering how to fix it.

Next Up:
Your Five Step Debugging Guide: Part 1

Previously:
Withhold Judgement When Debugging