JSJ 391: Debugging with Todd Gardner

Episode Summary

Todd Gardner is a software developer, podcaster on the show Script and Style, startup founder,  and comedy host for Pub Conf, a ‘comedy after party for developers’. Since he was last on the show 6 years ago, he has seen his startup TrackJS become quite successful. TrackJS is a JavaScript error monitoring service which gives you visibility into your client side experience. It’s different from other tools because focused on simplicity, so you’ll never need a guy on your team dedicated solely to TrackJS because everyone can use it.

The panel begins by talking about debugging methods and tools. Some rely solely on the debugger built into their platform while others prefer to use a third party service. They discuss the necessity of using a third party debugger and if there are better solutions than just the built in debugger. 

They then discuss what to do after you’ve fixed a bug, such as if it is necessary to write a test to make sure it was completely fixed They talk about things to do to make debugging more effective. Todd and Aimee believe that code needs to begin by being designed for debug-ability. 

The panel discusses issues with invisible boundaries encountered while debugging, such as running out of memory. They talk about ways to mitigate issues that happen outside of your code base. Todd talks about the dangers of ad-blockers, and the panel agrees that it is important to consider how your website will be crippled by the user’s own technology. The end user in a production environment will have a different experience than you did writing it on a professional computer. 

Todd talks about the difference between debugging for the web versus a mobile application. Todd has encountered particular problems with debugging on a remote device, and he talks about how he solved the issue. The show concludes with Todd giving a quick elevator pitch for TrackJS

Panelists

• Chris Ferdinandi

• Christopher Buecheler

• Aimee Knight

• Charles Max Wood

• Steve Emmrich

With special guest: Todd Gardner

Sponsors

• Adventures in Blockchain

• Sentry use the code “devchat” for 2 months free on Sentry’s small plan

• React Round Up

Links

• Track JS (free trial available)

• Script and Style podcast

• PubConf

• Console.log

• Blackbox for Firefox and Chrome

• Redux lager

• Remote JS 

Follow DevChat on Facebook and Twitter

Picks

Christopher Buecheler:

• React/TypeScript cheat sheet 

Chris Ferdinandi:

• Pokemon Brawl 

• Space Invaders game

• Gomakethings.com newsletter

Aimee Knight:

• TechLead Youtube channel

Charles Max Wood:

• Atomic Habits

• Getting up at 4 am

Steve Emmrich:

• Trello

• Babushkas and grandmas to help you with your newborn

Todd Gardner:

• PubConf

• Follow Todd @toddhgardner or todd.mn