[Tutor] IDE - Editors - Python

[Danny Yoo]

>   <grin> Avoid debuggers like a plague. If someone applies for a job
>          with us and starts talking about their proficiency in
>          debuggers, the interview stops right there and we keep looking.

Hi Tim,

Seriously?  I know that the implication is that sufficient test cases and
design will ferret out bugs, but this attitude toward debuggers surprises
me.  Steve McConnell, author of Code Complete, makes it a point to
recommend running any new code through a debugger just to force the
programmer to dig though the abstractions to see what the program's
actually doing at a low level.

In particular, I've found a debugger invaluable in diving through old C
code that I have not written.  Admittedly, I don't use debuggers in
Python, but I do see the value in forcing oneself to jump levels of
abstraction.  But maybe this approach is obsolete now and I'm just an old
fuddy-duddy.  *grin*