debugging

Being the detective in a crime movie where you are also the murderer.

This is a classic case of debugging.

by santina898 March 12, 2026

Monkey Debugging

When a programmer resorts to making random changes to their code until something works.

Joe spent hours staring at his code, trying to figure out a solution, until he finally gave in to monkey debugging.

by monkeycode July 19, 2023

reverse debugging

Reverse debugging is the process of trying to understand how someone successfully debugged a program you couldn't

- How did this guy manage to make my program work?
- I don't know, let's use reverse debugging to find out.

by SodiumChloride08 November 29, 2024

coffee mug debugging

Just like the term Rubber duck debugging, which is in software engineering, a method of debugging code. The name is a reference to a story in the book The Pragmatic Programmer in which a programmer would carry around a rubber duck and debug their code by forcing themselves to explain it, line-by-line, to the duck. Many other terms exist for this technique, often involving different inanimate objects.

The "coffee mug debugging" is the same method of debugging code with which developers force themselves to read and explain their code line-by-line, to the coffee mug. There are developers who calls this planted plot debugging as well. But "coffee mug debugging" seems more convenient at this century since it's easy to find a coffee mug for a developer than a "rubber duck" or "planted plot".

I had done coffee mug debugging for my dart code in flutter and found out a syntax error and fixed it.

by theoryginal February 17, 2020

alert oriented debugging

Debugging JavaScript code using alert statements to determine flow of control and inspect variables.

My browser doesn't have a JavaScript debugger so I have to resort to alert oriented debugging.

by ekolis June 4, 2020

Silly-Goose Debugging

Unlike its plastic poultry predecessor 🐤, "rubber duck debugging," this cheeky version, "Silly-Goose Debugging" comes with encouraging head tilts, well-timed sass 😏, and the inevitable 'silly goose' when you forget something as tragic as a semicolon 😱💀. Silly-Goose Debugging is what happens when a programmer vents their code confusion to a trusted human—usually a friend, partner, or unsuspecting bystander🤔—who doesn’t speak fluent code but somehow ends up dissecting your logic like a crime scene investigator 🕵️. They’ll patiently ask you to walk through each step like you're wiring a spaceship with spaghetti and hope 🍝🚀, then hit you with, "Wait… so you meant for it to skip that part?" By the end, you’re fully goosified🪿: bug squashed💪, logic sharpened😎, and ego mildly bruised (in the best way) 😅.

❗Note:
Silly-Goose Debugging isn’t about technical expertise—it’s about breaking down complex logic by verbalizing it with someone who helps you see things differently. It works because explaining things simply forces clarity, and a fresh perspective (even from a non-coder) can work wonders.
This term is perfect for anyone who’s ever solved a bug just by talking it out with a supportive human instead of a squeaky plastic duck.🤪

Example: "I couldn’t figure out why my function wasn’t returning the right value, so I did some Silly-Goose Debugging with my partner. As I explained each step, they kept stopping me with totally non-tech questions like, "Wait, why did it do that?"—and before I knew it, I was officially goosified. That back-and-forth made me realize I was missing a return statement. They didn’t even know what a loop was, but their outside-the-box questions led me straight to the fix."

by BlaZinBee July 31, 2025