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My simple Python loop bug took me 3 hours to find last night.
I was trying to print numbers 1 to 10 but kept getting 0 to 9, and the debate is whether you should just google the answer immediately or force yourself to trace through the code line by line until you find the off-by-one error yourself.
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leelewis1mo ago
Force yourself to trace the code first every single time. That painful process builds the intuition to spot those errors instantly later on. You'll start seeing patterns like forgetting that range starts at zero, and it becomes second nature. The three hours of struggle will save you thirty hours down the road.
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haydenbutler1mo ago
Oh man, the number of times I've stared at a loop until my eyes crossed, convinced the computer was lying to me. It's like trying to argue with a brick wall that's secretly right. You finally break down and trace it on a napkin and there it is, the dumbest little mistake you've made a hundred times before.
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nora_dixon1mo ago
Ugh, I feel so called out right now. I always skip the manual trace and just stare at the screen hoping the bug will magically explain itself, which obviously never works. My last project had a loop that was off by one for two whole days because I refused to just write it out on paper. You're totally right, it's the worst kind of self-sabotage.
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