Debugger. A necessary evil for tracking down those pesky bugs that somehow slipped through your flawless code. It's like having a nagging spouse constantly pointing out your mistakes, but without the added benefit of shared household chores.

How to use it in a sentence

• I've been staring at this debugger output for hours trying to figure out why my brilliant algorithm isn't working - I'm starting to think Clippy might have been more helpful.

• Our lead engineer insists on doing all his debugging by meticulously placing print statements everywhere, claiming that "real developers" don't need fancy tools like debuggers. I'm pretty sure he also churns his own butter and sends carrier pigeons instead of using Slack.

If you actually want to learn more...

• Martin Fowler dives into the concept of "Diff Debugging" and how version control and reproducible builds can help pinpoint the commit that introduced a regression bug: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/DiffDebugging.html

• If you're a glutton for punishment and want to explore the thrilling world of Lisp debugging, check out these resources compiled by Paul Graham: https://www.paulgraham.com/resources.html

• For a broader look at debugging and other fun software engineering topics, peruse Martin Fowler's blog, organized by tags like "refactoring" and "technical debt" (and try not to weep at how much of your codebase is represented there): https://martinfowler.com/tags/data%20analytics.html

Note: the Developer Dictionary is in Beta. Please direct feedback to skye@statsig.com.