Thread: C++ Programming Tips

Do you experienced programmers tend to have a common syntax or logic errors? Like

Code:

if (size = 3)    instead of     if (size == 3)

Stuff like that?

I think everyone falls into that trap now and then when their brain is farting like coding late at night a simple trick to avoid this problem is this

Code:

size = 3 /* size gets 3 */
size == 3 /*size equals three or size is three */

I came across this a while ago and it seems to help me out.

I don't see debugging in there. Is that under testing?

That would be assumed under testing. Yes. perhaps I should have added.

1.plan
2.code
3.test
4.pull hair!! beat head against wall repeatedly
4.repeat steps 2 - 4 ad nauseam.

>Do you guys write like pseudocode or do UML designs
I use whatever design medium the project requires. For personal projects I'm not nearly as organized.

>Do you experienced programmers tend to have a common syntax or logic errors?
I have a nasty tendency to forget to dereference a pointer at the worst possible place. For example:

Code:

struct node *insert_node_r ( struct node *tree, int data, int *deeper )
{
  ...
  if ( deeper ) {
    /* Rebalance */
  ...
}

deeper is never a null pointer, so the tree is always rebalanced even when it isn't needed (or wanted). I wrestled with this particular bug for too long this morning.

>Is there much time spent debugging?
It really depends on the programmer.

>>I have a nasty tendency to forget to dereference a pointer at the worst possible place.
At least you won't run into type punning problems

>>It really depends on the programmer.
And to a certain extent, I believe, the budget

my own personal method for debugging, which you may want to try ,is to not ever make mistakes.

Originally Posted by The Brain

my own personal method for debugging, which you may want to try ,is to not ever make mistakes.

I really never debugged anything until I started making an emulator. Then you really learn how a debugger works, and in some cases make your own little GUI debugger for your program.