Debugging patterns describe a generic set of steps to rectify or correct a bug within a software system. It is a solution to a re-occurring problem that is related to a particular bug or type of bug in a specific context.
Some examples of debugging patterns include:
- Eliminate Noise Bug Pattern - Isolate and expose a particular bug by eliminating all other noise in the system. This enables you to concentrate on finding the real issue.
- Re-occurring Bug Pattern - Expose a bug via a unit test. Run that unit test as part of a standard build from that moment on. This ensure that the bug will not recur.
- Time Specific Bug Pattern - Expose the bug by writing a continuous test that runs continuously and fails when an expected error occurs. This is useful for transient bugs.
A bug pattern is a particular type of pattern. The original concept of a pattern was introduced by the architect Sir Christopher Alexander as a design pattern.
Famous quotes containing the word patterns:
“One can describe a landscape in many different words and sentences, but one would not normally cut up a picture of a landscape and rearrange it in different patterns in order to describe it in different ways. Because a photograph is not composed of discrete units strung out in a linear row of meaningful pieces, we do not understand it by looking at one element after another in a set sequence. The photograph is understood in one act of seeing; it is perceived in a gestalt.”
—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)