Remember debugging with just print statements?

I used to spend hours sprinkling console.log() everywhere in my JavaScript code to figure out where things broke. Then about 3 years ago I discovered the debugger tool in Chrome DevTools and it was a game changer. Now I just set breakpoints and watch variables change in real time, no print spam needed. Has anyone else made the switch from print debugging to using a proper debugger?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley53m ago

Wait, you actually used to debug JavaScript without the DevTools debugger for years? That must have been brutal, I cannot imagine tracing through callback hell with just console.log. I remember my first time using step-over and seeing the call stack update in real time felt like discovering fire for the first time.

nathan54553m ago

Started using console.log back in the jQuery days and honestly it worked fine for most stuff. You just got really good at reading raw object dumps and figuring out where things broke by process of elimination. The call stack tracing with step-over is definitely nicer though, no doubt about that.