Programming, although fun, can also be painful. That is especially true for new programmers, who make a lot of mistakes during their early days. Besides, coding becomes unbearable when you encounter the same errors no matter how many times you change the code.
For such situations, here are three things you should do to get rid of the errors in your coding assignments.
#1 Understand the Type of Error
Before you do anything else, you must first understand the nature of your error. To deal with unwanted errors in your code, you will have to know, not only where they are, but also the reason why they are popping up. You cannot debug your code unless you are aware of the error and what is causing it.
Programming errors can be divided into three groups. These are syntax error, logic error, and runtime error.
Syntax errors are common. These errors are seen when you misspell the name of a statement or keyword. For instance, instead of writing ‘print’, you wrote ‘prin’. Syntax errors are also seen when you try to use a variable that does not exist or when you forget to close a bracket. Your code will not run if it has these errors. The IDE will be quick to point out where you went wrong, and what case of syntax error your code has.
Logic errors are a bit difficult to debug in the sense that your code will still run even if it has these errors. Despite running successfully, the code will not show the expected results. Sometimes, it might even enter an infinite loop if you are using loops and forget to set a stopping point or add increments to the loop counter.
You might encounter a runtime error for a few reasons. In most cases, it is because you are using an array index that does not exist (array out of bounds error). Or it could also be that you are trying to refer to a missing file or variable, or trying to call an invalid function. In the development sector, runtime errors are often referred to as bugs.
#2 Debugging Your Code
Debugging is something that every professional programmer needs to learn. And you have to cultivate that practice from an early age.
There are many ways to debug your code. Professional developers use special software to handle this entire process. It is much easier and faster. Using such tools and software speeds up the development process.
For students like you, however, it is better to try and debug your code manually – the old-fashioned way. You will have to trace your code line by line and see if the outputs match the expected ones. Manual debugging is time-consuming, but teachers prefer you learn it the hard way before taking the easier route.
#3 Seek Help Online
You have worked out the nature of the errors and also tried debugging them. Sadly, things are not working out for you. And to make matters worse, the assignment deadline is approaching soon. So what do you do now?
You might not have been able to solve the problems, but that does not mean that no one else can either. There are plenty of forums and discussion platforms on the internet that can help you out with your errors. These platforms are widely used by college students to get help with their assignments and seek online homework answers.
Students are often stuck with coding problems. No matter how many hours they spend, they cannot seem to find the solutions to those problems. That is why these online forums and platforms exist. Computer engineering students use these platforms all the time to learn more about coding.
There are experts on the platform who cater to your queries and confusions. They provide step-by-step solutions to your problems. The experts are mostly students like you or even professional programmers. Thanks to the details they provide with their answers, you can have a better understanding of the code itself, and where you went wrong.
These are all things that you need to know for dealing with errors in your code. As you can tell, the approaches are connected. And that is because these errors can be hard to deal with, especially when you have programs that have over a few hundred lines of code. However, as long as you stick to these simple points, getting rid of the errors will not be a problem.
