Full Stack JavaScript Strategies

Chapter 9. Backend Debugging

No matter what you do, you’ll have to have solid debugging skills and processes. Being able to sort through possible issues quickly is going to get you to the root cause efficiently. There’s not a strictly right or wrong way to perform your debugging, although there are some things you should definitely check for.

Debugging is an art of persistence with the discipline of a systematic approach because it’s going to take some twists and turns and lead to some dead ends. Often, the code causing the bug isn’t very complex. It might be a one-line change, but the path to finding that one line can take days. I’m going to give you some tools and strategies that will hopefully get you to the root cause as fast as possible.

In this chapter, I’ll cover:

• Detailed log messages

• Environment configurations

• Tools you can use

• Strategies for tracing bugs

• How to help others find bugs

Debugging is one area where you will be looked up to for help. When some of the less experienced developers run into issues with their code, you’ll be one of the people they turn to. This is a great opportunity to mentor another developer as well as learn from them. Some bugs are just too big for one person to track down because of how complex a system gets. Over time, all the team members will develop expertise in specific parts of the app, which means you’ll get farther faster when you help one another.

Detailed Log Messages

One way you can start helping the team is by writing ...