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6 stages of debugging: 4. Why does that happen?

You started by rejecting that the bug was possible. Then you followed the steps and couldn’t reproduce it on your machine. You figured that out, yet you were confounded - it shouldn’t happen!

You have arrived at: Why does that happen?

This is where the bulk of useful debugging work happens. This is the most effective question to ask.

Maybe tuning some data or changing the order of some code resolves the issue. Or reverting a recent commit. But why did it? What happened in the first place?

Use your debugging tools, skills, and techniques to find the why. Logging, debuggers, reducing the surface area, and more.

An epiphany awaits!

- Karl

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