While developers often focus on writing clean, error-free code, they sometimes forget to master debugging. However, analyzing errors helps you develop high-quality software and polish your coding skills much faster as you better understand how code works and how different components interact. This article explains the steps for debugging, the best techniques, and the most effective tools for 2025.

So, what is debugging? 

Debugging stands for the process of identifying and erasing code errors, also known as bugs, to ensure software is secure, functional, and stable. 

Though they may seem unimportant initially (e.g., you used a comma instead of a dot), bugs could negatively impact software reliability and performance, lead to poor user experience, or cause crashes, sensitive data loss, and security vulnerabilities. 

That’s why it’s crucial to catch bugs as soon as possible and fix them. On the other hand, bugs are a natural part of the development process, as only the ones who do nothing avoid making mistakes. Plenty of techniques and tools help you identify and mend problems. However, first, knowing what bugs exist and understanding the debugging process is essential. 

Types of bugs 

The approach to fixing a bug differs depending on the type. You should choose specific tools and set deadlines based on what you need to redo. Obviously, significant errors like compatibility or security bugs take more time to fix than trivial problems like buttons with different styles across pages. That’s why knowing your enemy—or types of bugs, in our case—is indispensable. 

There are many bugs and numerous criteria for classifying them. In this article, we won’t dive into the topic; however, let’s take a quick look at the most common ones. 

• Syntax errors

Just like typos occur in human language, they can occur in code, too. A developer can miss a letter or confuse the colon and semicolon, and it’s enough to cause errors. 

• Logical errors

Correct syntax isn’t a 100% guarantee that code will work. It’s also important that code has logical directions. Otherwise, an app may work; however, errors will produce unintended or unwanted output. As logical errors don’t lead to immediate crushes, they may be tricky to identify and fix. 

• Semantic errors 

Coding languages have their own rules, and violating them leads to errors. For example, a variable that you haven’t declared is a problem. Interpreters cannot understand such code, so the output will be meaningless. 

• Runtime (execution) errors 

Those errors happen when an app is starting or running. Sometimes, refreshing, restarting, or reinstalling can help, but runtime errors could signal another mistake.

Debugging process

There are many descriptions, including different steps, involved in debugging. However, except for details that vary depending on bugs, tools, and techniques, you can generally divide debugging into the following six steps. 

• Step 1: Reproducing the conditions 

When testers report the bug, they describe not the bug itself but its symptoms. For example, a feature that isn’t visible. It is just the tip of the iceberg. The bug might occur due to an error in the conditional logic that determines the feature’s visibility or because of poor configuration settings. Debugging aims to find the root cause of a bug and get rid of it for good, not just make software work somehow. That’s why you need to reproduce the conditions when a bug shows itself, so you experience it first-hand and don’t just rely on the symptoms description. 

• Step 2: Finding the bug 

After familiarizing yourself with a bug, you must find its source. This step is all about reviewing your code and available logs. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools that help you look through large pieces of code, so you won’t spend forever scrutinizing it. 

• Step 3: Identifying the root cause 

After you find a suspicious part of code, you need to scrutinize it—analyze the flow of the code, logic, and interactions of code components, especially when a bug occurs. 

• Step 4: Fixing the bug

Now, it’s time to solve a problem. Here, you rewrite parts of code, recompile, and rerun it to ensure the bug is gone and new errors don’t occur. This step may take time, as you may need several attempts to succeed. It’s better to use a version control system to track changes. In this case, if you rewrite code and it still doesn’t work as intended or new bugs show themselves, you can roll back any amendments and start afresh. 

• Step 5: Testing 

You must run several tests after fixing a bug. Unit tests examine separate code segments that you modify to erase bugs. Integration tests check the whole module containing the code’s fixed part. Then, system tests scrutinize the system to which the fixed module belongs. Finally, regression tests ensure that fixing doesn’t impact software performance and that no new bugs appear. 

• Step 6: Documenting the whole process

Record the details of the debugging process, including the bug’s cause and the fix. If the same bug occurs in the future, you won’t have to go all the way from the start to fix it. Besides, recording will keep developers on the same page if many people work on the same project. If there are any other relevant details, they also deserve attention. 

Now that you know what bugs are and how to catch them, let’s examine the best tools and approaches. 

Debugging techniques

Good for you. There is no need to invent the wheel when it comes to debugging. Several proven strategies are accessible yet effective. 

• Backtracing 

When dealing with unexpected error messages or complex systems, start at the point where the bug occurs and trace it backward to determine its root cause. 

• Binary search debugging 

What to do if you can’t figure out the problematic part of the code, especially if there is a lot of code to check? To find a hidden bug, divide the code into halves, as smaller pieces are easier to look through. Narrow down the search area until you find a bug. Comment code, use print statements, isolate components, drop breakpoints, and check output to exclude error-free parts. This technique makes debugging faster, less stressful, and more fruitful. 

• Rubber ducking 

That’s not a joke—there was a developer who carried a rubber duck and spoke with it when faced with a problem. 

The thing is, talking the problem out loud helps you slow down and catch details that escape your attention. You can speak with your colleagues or opt for inanimate objects if you feel embarrassed. 

• Bugs clustering 

You may encounter numerous bugs with similar root causes—for example, typos in code. It will be easier to group bugs by their symptoms. When you resolve one bug from a group, it is highly likely that you will resolve others automatically or at least gain insights about their causes. 

• Log analysis 

When you deal with large-scale apps, you may face a bug you can’t recreate locally on your device. In this case, turn your gaze to logs. Logs contain performance data, including details about leaks, incorrect values, speed, etc. Looking through logs will help you understand what exactly went wrong and caused an error. There are numerous tools for log analyses, like Graylog, ELK Stack, and more.

There are many other lifehacks that help with debugging. Imposing limits (like bandwidth throttling) or switching to another debugging tool or OS may be a key to fixing bugs, as such actions help you see a problem in a different light. Look for answers at professional forums such as StackOverflow, note your insights, take breaks to restart your mind, and mix the techniques listed above—whatever method is good as long as it works for you.

Debugging tools 

Debugging tools are your key assistants. They help you get necessary data (like network traffic details), accelerate and automate debugging, and make your life easier. Numerous debugging tools exist. The choice depends on the type of development environment, the languages, and the integrated development environment (IDE) in use. Below, we list some of the top debugging tools of 2025. 

• Visual Studio Code

VS Code is a widely used IDE. It offers a built-in debugging feature for C#, PHP, Node.js, and other languages. It also allows you to watch values in variables and set breakpoints. Other features include syntax highlighting, code refactoring, numerous code completion tools, and effective extensions like ReShaper, which analyzes code, provides real-time suggestions, and supports multiple languages. The tool is free to use.

• Airbrake

This cloud-based bug and error reporting tool is developer-centric and smoothly integrates with apps. Airbrake is suitable for error tracking and provides real-time notifications and detailed error reports. The tool integrates with other widely used apps like GitHub, GitLab, Slack, and others. The tool offers a free trial, and prices start at $19 per month. 

• Chrome DevTools

DevTools is a set of browser built-in tools. Whether you’re testing the mobile viewport display or analysing a website’s or its components’ performance, DevTools is at your service with its JavaScript code editor. This editor offers numerous debugging features, such as breakpoints and variable examination. Chrome DevTools scans HTML and CSS in real time, inspects network requests, and provides a remote debugging feature. On top of that, it’s free to use. 

• Fiddler

This tool is suited for debugging web apps. It captures web traffic between the testing environment and the Internet, so you can analyze requests and responses and get ideas about how apps work. At the same time, Fiddler ensures your security and doesn’t expose sensitive data. There are free and paid versions of the software.

As you can see, there are many different types of debugging tools out there, so despite your use case and needs, you can find suitable options. There are also tools like WebStorm, designed for JavaScript developers, or Angular Augury, used with particular languages and frameworks. Such instruments offer a wide range of functions and make debugging easier and faster, so sometimes they are the best choice.  

Is debugging the same as testing? 

Debugging and testing come hand in hand; however, they aren’t the same. 

Testing helps understand when a system fails and how it behaves when a bug occurs. However, testing doesn’t explain why errors happen—it’s all about observing. 

Instead, debugging does explain. The principal goal of debugging is to find the root cause of a bug and fix it. Development is incomplete without both testing and debugging, as they are like two sides of a coin. 

Cases when bugs turned into cool features 

Some software options we can’t imagine our lives without actually started as bugs. For example, Firefox’s “Undo Closed Tab” feature was originally a bug in the tab-closing behavior that allowed users to reopen tabs. Now, it is a handy option in numerous browsers.  

The same happened to the autocorrect feature, which saves us from typos and mistakes. Originally, an error in Microsoft Excel text handling was quite annoying to users; however, Microsoft refined this into the AutoCorrect feature. 

Games aren’t exceptions. Minecraft’s developers originally intended for the Creepers to be a pig model. However, a coding error led to their unique appearance and behavior. Creepers became iconic within the game, adding a layer of challenge and excitement that players liked.

Proxies and debugging 

A proxy is a crucial tool for debugging, as it can serve multiple purposes. First, proxies can aid in traffic monitoring, as they can log all requests and responses, thus helping identify communication issues between the client and the server. Second, developers can manipulate requests to simulate error conditions or see how an app responds to various inputs. It’s also easy to inspect responses and analyze the data the target server returns, ensuring that it meets the expected format and contains the correct information. Proxies can also assist in measuring response time and tracking API call performance, so if there are any communication bottlenecks, they won’t go unnoticed. Security testing also requires proxies, as they help imitate SQL injection, DDoS attacks, and cross-site scripting attacks to see how the software responds. 

Closure 

Debugging is an art just like writing code; analyzing and fixing errors could help you make a successful product, become much more experienced, and even introduce new features that no one has yet. That’s why debugging is worth your time, attention, and effort. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools that can streamline debugging and save you time. Proxy is one of them. DataImpulse offers you ethically-obtained proxies at a fair price of $1 per 1GB, so your sensitive data and wallet stay safe with us. 24/7 human support team is ready to cater to your needs anytime, and, as we operate on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, you don’t have to worry that your traffic may expire. Email us at [email protected] or click the “Try now” button to start with us.