Debug, Debug, Debug

We would like to minimize bugs when we write code. If we encounter errors, we know something is going wrong, but some serious bugs don’t stop the code.

Bug??

• Values go wrong even if you are sure that you implemented the code correctly

Write a debug function

• Write a debug function and try the code with a tiny data
• Make sure all counters work well
• Debug functions need to test:
  • Each file (class)
  • Entire code (can the program give you a desirable output?)
  • Test codes are important because you will forget what you’ve done if your project get longer
• Test with both small and large test datasets

Coding

• Break your function into small parts and make sure each component works fine.
• Introduce a linting tool: ALE in Vim
• Be careful especially when you copy and paste a part of code

Write a documentation

• R: devtools
• Python: Sphinx
• C++: Doxygen

Rewrite

Do not hesitate to rewrite the entire code. Rewriting takes shorter time than debugging unorganized code (which could be infinite).

Case Studies

Number order and text order

When I read text files, the order was text_1, text_10, text_101, text_102. However, in a csv file that stores covariates, the order was text_1, text_2, text_3. There was a mismatch.

Reduce the number of member variables

• In C++, defining int and double as member variables slows down the code.