A Common Taxonomy of Bugs and How to Catch Them

on YouTube ↗23m

" summary

Asserts that debugging instincts are codifiable into a deterministic taxonomy with four concrete bug types: bore bug (deterministic, reproduce locally, fix then refactor), schroen bug (appears to work or never did; use logging and git bisect), heisen bug (observation changes behavior; use profiling and flame graphs), and mandle bug (system-level failures; check disk with df- and rotate logs). Based on consulting and MailChimp experience, reproduction, simple fixes, and verification steps are given and shown to work.

AI-written summary · about

" chapters (13)

1. 0:00Intro
2. 1:23Debugging Skills
3. 4:49Research Methods
4. 7:44Bohrbug
5. 10:41Observable Attributes
6. 13:36Git Bisect
7. 16:08Profiling for Verification
8. 16:40FLAME GRAPHS
9. 17:41Reproduction & Resolution
10. 20:05Disk Usage
11. 20:40Logging as Verification
12. 21:54Debugging Instincts
13. 22:23Build Up Your Own Toolkit and Share it

" related talks

• 26mA Practical Taxonomy of BugsKiley Stradley · Keep Ruby Weird 2016
• 31mThe Science and Magic of DebuggingVaidehi Joshi · RubyConf 2021
• 38mLearning from your bugsHenrik Warne · Jfokus 2019
• 39mThe Good Bad Bug: Fail Your Way to Better CodeJessica Rudder · RubyConf AU 2018
• 26mThe Mindset of DebuggingKyle d'Oliveira · RubyConf 2021
• 54mDebugging EffectivelyColin O'Dell · PHP UK Conference 2017
• 42m82 Bugs I Collected in a Year You Won’t Believe Made It to ProductionFrancois Martin · TestCon Europe 2025
• 33mLove your bugsAllison Kaptur · PyCon 2018