Rubberducking: The best debugging technique that you should know

Debugging is an essential skill for any software engineer. It involves identifying and fixing issues in code to ensure that software functions as intended. However, debugging can be a daunting and time-consuming process.

Fortunately, there is a technique called "rubberducking" that can significantly improve your debugging skills and make the process more efficient.

What is Rubberducking?

Have you ever been stuck on a problem for hours, then you ask a colleague for help, and as soon as you start explaining the problem, you realize what the issue is? That's the power of rubberducking.

Rubberducking is a debugging technique that involves explaining your code line by line to an inanimate object, such as a rubber duck.

By verbalizing the problem and walking through the code step by step, you can often identify the root cause of the bug or error.

Approach

The concept behind rubberducking is that explaining your code to someone, even if it's an inanimate object, forces you to think more critically and helps you uncover hidden issues that you might have otherwise overlooked.

In real life, you can use a rubber duck or any other inanimate object as your "rubber duck". You could even use yourself as the rubber duck by explaining the code out loud to yourself.

The key is to explain the code line by line through verbalizing your thought process, and as you verbalize your though and go through the code, you will often find the bug or issue that you never noticed before.