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8: Appendix C - Debugging

  • Page ID
    15325
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    Although there are debugging suggestions throughout the book, we thought it would be useful to organize them in an appendix. If you are having a hard time debugging, you might want to review this appendix from time to time.

    The best debugging strategy depends on what kind of error you have:

    • Compile-time errors indicate that there is something wrong with the syntax of the program. Example: omitting the semicolon at the end of a statement.
    • Run-time errors are produced if something goes wrong while the program is running. Example: an infinite recursion eventually causes a StackOverflowError.
    • Logic errors cause the program to do the wrong thing. Example: an expression may not be evaluated in the order you expect.

    The following sections are organized by error type; some techniques are useful for more than one type.


    This page titled 8: Appendix C - Debugging is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Allen B. Downey (Green Tea Press) .

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