Reading Notes for Day 10 of 201:
REad What Went Wrong? Troubleshooting JavaScript.
- Name some key differences between a Syntax Error and a Logic Error.
Syntax errors are spelling and punctuation errors. Logic errors are errors in the code itself that mean it either won’t work or won’t consistently work the way you want it to.
- List a few types of errors that you have encountered in past lab assignments and explain how you were able to correct them.
I frequently make logic errors when working out code that requires multiple loops. It helps to pseudocode what I’m trying to do, and also to name variables in ways that will allow you to recognize what they’re for (and yes, that means sometimes their names are longer). I also really like to use comma in place of semicolons and that requires a lot of proofreading. The linter is brilliant for shortcutting that, but doesn’t always show where the real error is.
- How will this topic continue to influence your long term goals?
I’m sure I will continue to write broken code and then have to fix it, so this topic will remain very relevant to me. Increasing my debugging skills means being able to get to clean, working code faster and more efficiently.
Read The JavaScript Debugger.
- How would you describe the JavaScript Debugger tool and how it works to someone just starting out in software development?
I think the Debugger tool could be very useful for a new developer, but there will be something of a learning curve before it can be effectively applied. There are a lot of these kinds of tools and the combination of learning to code and learning the tools themselves can be a bit overwhelming.
- Define what a breakpoint is.
According to the text, a breakpoint is a place in your code that you want to pause execution and identify the problems that prevent your code from executing properly.
- What is the call stack?
Per Google, a call stack is a mechanism for an interpreter (like the JavaScript interpreter in a web browser) to keep track of its place in a script that calls multiple functions. The Debugger, the Call stack section shows you what code was executed to get to the current line.
Bookmark and Review Debugging HTML and Debugging CSS
Things I want to know more about
I’m going to read most of the debugging information and play around with the JavaScript debugger. I think getting more familiar with the dev tools in general is important to developing my overall skillset as a dev.