What I’ve Learned From The Worst Computer Bugs
Be humble in the face of software complexity
Weirdly, I kind of enjoy encountering software bugs.
My own bugs, to be clear! I’m an amateur self-taught programmer who writes little tools to assist in my journalism (or makes things just for fun, like my Weird Old Book Finder). Because I’m just a weekend hacker, I make a lot of mistakes while coding — so I’m constantly puzzling over the strange behavior of my software, and hunting down and fixing my own bugs.
My family is thus accustomed to seeing me sit there for hours, only to suddenly shout “aha!” and slap my forehead (followed by some gentle self-recrimination, like “ugh, how totally, totally obvious!”).
Bug-fixing is detective work, which makes it deeply satisfying. Much like as with a parlor-room mystery by Agatha Christie, you typically have all the necessary clues laid before you. The challenge is in spying the throughline that ties them together and solves the puzzle. The surge of pleasure that comes from fixing a bug is the same narcotic jolt of delight you get when you tease out the solution to a mystery novel before the author reveals it.
Bugs are also humbling. They teach humility in the face of complexity, because there are so damn many ways to screw things up in code.
