Problem Solving and Debugging Skills, Developing Software like a Pro | by SODIQ OGUNYEIWA | Medium

SODIQ OGUNYEIWA

medium.com.

Problem Solving and Debugging Skills, Developing Software like a Pro

Aug 17, 2018·3 min read

Building software is fun for those that has what it takes, actually don’t let me lie to you it takes nothing but courage, dedication, ability to learn unlearn and relearn couples with problem solving skills, which is the essential part of Computer Science Study and Software Engineering. Problems can be break into sub problems and into pieces, following some practice will help fast track your problem solving process and will eventually makes you a better developer.

Problem Solving Skills

-> Identify the problem
You need to be sure this is a problem and not just illusion, what is the sign of the problem so you will be sure. Then what is the cause of the problem.

-> Explore Options towards solving the problem
Google can be your able friend when it’s comes to exploring different options, also you can contact a friend if googling could not help, list out several ways before you decide on which way to follow.

->Evaluate your options
The Evaluation can be in terms of Best Option, Easiest Option, Quick to implement for deadline

-> Implement the chosen option

There is nothing better than solving problem and automating tedious works, so solve problem and make life a better place.

Software Debugging skills and Technique:

Software development is a combination of skills and art, that is why most people find it difficult to assimilate (Not interesting) even after paying a lot money for training, you need to put up the skills from the training and apply those skills with art, this is what i mean:

Placing a button in android app can be achieve with the code below in xml:

<Buttonandroid:id="@+id/button"android:layout_width="wrap_content"android:layout_height="wrap_content"android:text="Button Name" />

Unfortunately no better android apps will be published with the design produced from that code, to achieve better design you need to put more effort to write more codes and with great power comes great responsibility, more code leads to more bug and that is why a skills or techniques to debug in order not to get drained and throw away our laptop out of frustration.

Software Debugging Technique

-> Think before you code:
Coding should be the last part of the process, the sooner you start coding the more you are likely to have bug in your app,

-> Get use to white board drawing and stop thinking from your head, because it can burst
White board can be a way to see the process in a diagrammatic way, it help you to see the data flow and even the design skeleton

-> Write out pseudocode of the code before you write the code
Pseudocode can help visualize what the actual code will look like and from pseudocode you can tell what is achievable and what will result in more problem

->Embarrase the Bug
Always read the error message first before anything else, bugs are very weak and they are scared of you reading them, for Android dev LOG CAT is our favorite friend and that is best place to know what is going on in your app

Type of Error

-> Syntax error:
This happens when you are typing like a pro and you forget to the method name or class name, which automatically result in error.

-> Implementation Error:
You can’t abuse the rules, you can only play with it, when you use “= “ in place of “==”, you automatically get an error because “=” will assign what is in the right to left while “==” will compare between value in the left and the right.

-> Logical Error:
If you skip whiteboard analysis or good planning from the start, you are likely to have this kind of error

Links for further readup:

https://codeburst.io/think-think-think-before-you-code-52890a917ffd

https://medium.com/@lifenautjoe/programming-tips-think-before-you-code-ab7234936d7b

https://blog.apiary.io/2015/10/20/Think-Before-you-Code

SODIQ OGUNYEIWA

Curious developer || Android/iOS

SODIQ OGUNYEIWA FOLLOWS

See all (53)

More from SODIQ OGUNYEIWA

Curious developer || Android/iOS

Jul 18, 2018

Becoming Google Certified Associate Android Developer

Certification can be a good Resume booster and also a way to show your potential employer that you are actually a good guy for the Job, it builds your self confidence and gives you edge among other developers.

Here are some tips to becoming a Google Certified Associate Android Developer and also i will be sharing some online document that you can follow to go from Zero knowledge of Android Apps to becoming a Certified Android Dev.

What is Google Certified Associate Android Developer ?

This is the official certification from Google for Android Developers, the certification process is in…

Google for Africa Scholarship Oyo-state Recap

Hurrah we had our last meetup on 30th of June 2018
Summary of Google scholarship for Africa in Oyo-state Nigeria

About Oyo-state

Oyo-state has the largest city in Africa by land and it is situated in the South Western part of Nigeria, there are some amazing and interest fact about Oyo-state Nigeria.
You can check it out below
https://www.naija.ng/932227-interesting-facts-heritage-nigerian-state.html#932227

About Google scholarship for Africa #ALCwithGoogle

On 22nd of March, Google announced interest to Empower Africans with Technological skills (Web and Android) in partnership with

Andela

and

Udacity

, the program started officially on 8th of May 2018 and officially end on…

PROFESSIONAL APPROACH TO LEARN PROGRAMMING ~MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Often I heard people complaining about learning programming language,

They said it is hard,

They said you have to think,

They said you get errors you won’t understand,

They said this and that,

Actually all they are saying is true, but my question is;

Do you reach the top by sitting on the floor? You have to start doing what you love and don’t accept lazy mouth description about life.

People try to judge programming by what lecturer teaches in schools, believe me that is not programming most of the lecturers are not programmers they only study material to build…