Why does nobody talk about using print statements vs proper debugging tools

I used to just spam console.log everywhere in my JavaScript projects, spending like 30 minutes hunting down bugs. Started using VS Code's debugger last week after a buddy showed me breakpoints and it cut my time to 5 minutes. Anyone else still stuck in the old way or made the switch?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilykelly2d ago

Wait, you were seriously spending 30 minutes on console.log hunting? That's wild, I feel like everyone just accepts that misery until someone forces them to try breakpoints. I switched years ago and never looked back, debugging is basically painless now.

elizabethhayes2d ago

Is it really that serious though? I've been coding for like 15 years and still use console.log half the time. Breakpoints are nice and all but sometimes I just want to see a value pop up without setting up a whole debugging session. Feels like people act like it's this huge time sink when really it's like an extra minute or two.

eric7232d ago

The thing with breakpoints is they save your ass on weird state bugs that console.log just can't catch. Like when you're tracking a variable that changes 50 times in a loop, console.log gives you a wall of text but breakpoints let you walk through each step. I do still use console.log for quick checks though, especially on small functions or one-off scripts where setting up the debugger feels like overkill. The balance is knowing when to use each tool instead of treating one like the holy grail.