This is why I spend more time inside GDB than I do writing code, and so should you. Lex Fridman || John Carmack

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Imagine how much better of a programmer Carmack would have been if he had known about print statements.

John Carmack was right. -> Stop `printf` debugging. Open the debugger and watch your code run step by step. -> On Mac just type: `lldb ./your_program` You’ll understand your code better in 10 minutes than hours of print statements.

Tracing and stepping through taught me so much about how OOP works AND how many algorithms behave. Debugging is an art form.

Would be useful to see more agent workflows that treat the debugger as a first-class loop, not just “write → hope → read the stack trace.” Carmack’s point still stands: if you’re not inspecting the running program, you’re guessing.

Debugger is the only way to have more power than root

This is why ITS had a DDT as a shell.

I remember when the "boss" from the worst "company" (glamourized personal project) I ever worked for, who really believed he was some sort of genius, was not able to install a useful debugger and stated, "It is better to use prints". Stupidity at its finest.

The thing about 3d engines are you have to balance a lot of tradeoffs. It makes you appreciate the complexity of reality, that you get for free.

would a team of three agents for programming debugging and qc work better?

gdb + AI

I spent years inside WinICE .. I never want to go back, but I feel like it provides a very sound basis for almost all other work. 🧐

thats why I spend more time in flamegraphs, perf., nsysy, ncu, i don't believe until i see through my naked eyes lolll

Step-by-Step — uh, Baybayy 👊

Thanks got sharing this. Will watch and sleep

The world is just in such poverty when Lex is the best humanity can offer as an interviewer. Then again, it's free, so I guess it indeed has no value.

I learned to code in QBasic. Had a built-in debugger—and built-in hyperlinked docs. It was pretty awesome.

Gnu DDD helped me get thru college and complete my thesis.

I can’t believe there are actually people who claim to not use debuggers

Like explaining the internal combustion engine to a dog.

but some people continue using *only* print("**** I have been here ****")

Any debugger that does the job. But GDB (with plugging for nicer visualisation) is actually really nice

The other day I had to solve a problem with camera angles being wrong when switching from FP to orbital and back and AI one-shotted the fix in about 30 seconds. I often use the debugger but man is it nice to have AI! 😃💙

Spent more time in GDB this week than writing code 🙄

Debooger

He doesn't argue for using GDB, he essentially says it's the last resort that's better than nothing.