debuggismist

Debuggismist is a term used to describe a practitioner or philosophical approach that treats debugging as a formal discipline within software development. It emphasizes systematic investigation of failures, documentation, and knowledge sharing to reduce defect recurrence and improve overall software quality.

Etymology and scope: The word combines debug with -ism and -ist. Its use is informal and scattered across technical discussions, educational materials, and some team practices rather than a universally recognized standard. It is often associated with practices that elevate debugging from a reactive task to a proactive, teachable craft.

Core principles: Hypothesis-driven debugging, reproducibility, instrumentation and observability, structured analysis (root-cause analysis), collaborative debugging (pair programming and blameless postmortems), and documentation of causes and fixes.

Methods and practices: Steps include establishing a minimal reproducible example, isolating suspected components, formulating and testing hypotheses, using automated tests and logging to confirm, implementing a fix, verifying with regression tests, and recording insights for future prevention.

Reception and variants: Some critics argue that debuggismist may reinstate rigid processes or slow down rapid iteration; proponents say it provides a shared language and reduces defect leakage. Variants emphasize different facets such as instrumentation-heavy debuggers, or education-focused curricula.

See also: debugging, root cause analysis, blameless postmortems, software quality assurance.