V
30

I was stuck on a bug for two hours until my buddy at the coffee shop pointed out my typo

I was working on a simple Python script at the local library yesterday, trying to make a list of numbers. I kept getting an error and couldn't figure out why. My friend Sam, who codes too, looked over my shoulder and spotted I'd written 'apend' instead of 'append'. It was such a tiny mistake but it totally blocked me. Has anyone else had a simple typo waste a bunch of their time?
4 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
4 Comments
paul87
paul871mo ago
Ugh, the worst is when you're searching for some deep logic flaw and it's literally just spelling. My brain refuses to see the wrong letters after staring at it for an hour.
6
aaron880
aaron8807d ago
Those typos can be so sneaky. @the_thea, what's the longest you've ever spent on a single missing character?
6
charles706
charles7061mo ago
Ever think you're too careful to make those kinds of mistakes? I sure did. Paul87 is right, your eyes just stop seeing the problem after a while. I had a similar thing with a missing quote that cost me a whole morning, and it really humbled me. Now I step away for ten minutes when I'm stuck, and it often jumps right out at me.
1
the_thea
the_thea1mo ago
Wait, a whole morning for one missing quote? That's brutal. I've lost maybe an hour max on something like that before I start banging my head on the desk. What were you even working on that took that long to spot?
5