Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

Chapter 10. Debugging

Now that you know enough to write more complicated programs, you may start finding not-so-simple bugs in them. This chapter covers some tools and techniques for finding the root cause of bugs in your program to help you fix bugs faster and with less effort.

To paraphrase an old joke among programmers, “Writing code accounts for 90 percent of programming. Debugging code accounts for the other 90 percent.”

Your computer will do only what you tell it to do; it won’t read your mind and do what you intended it to do. Even professional programmers create bugs all the time, so don’t feel discouraged if your program has a problem.

Fortunately, there are a few tools and techniques to identify what exactly your code is doing and where ...