Message-ID:	<c=US%a=_%p=Hassler_Communic%l=DAISY-970604162518Z-89@daisy.hcst.com>
From:	Bryan Murphy <bryan DOT murphy AT hcst DOT com>
To:	"'djgpp AT delorie DOT com'" <djgpp AT delorie DOT com>
Subject:	Some Advice for Buggy Software
Date:	Wed, 4 Jun 1997 12:25:18 -0400
MIME-Version:	1.0

I've noticed a common trend on this list/newsgroup a lot.  People
ask for help (including myself) and get a response saying something
to the effect of posting the smallest possible code fragment that
displays this problem.

I can attest to this, with the exception of some nasty template 
problems I had (which were due to an undefined procedure and
not the templates themselves after two months of trying to figure 
it out),  whenever I come across a bug, and attempted to minimize
the code, I almost always found the problem in the process and
never had to bother asking for help.

By eliminating all the unneeded code, you narrow down your view
to the point where you can get a much better idea about what is
going on and what the problem might possibly.

This doesn't work in all cases, but it works often enough that you
can save yourselves a lot of time and trouble by doing this before
you ask for help.  At least, if worse comes to worse, you have
the code fragment ready when you post for help and can cut off
a day or two because people won't have to wait for you to create
the simplified code.

Just my $.02.
Bryan Murphy (aka Dalroth)
Web Developer
HCST, Inc. : http://www.hcst.com/
Home Page: http://www.hcst.com/~bryan/

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