[Disc] The "Hallelujah" Moment

[trogdor458]

I'm sure you've all experienced it at some point
You have a glitch, and you've been searching through your code seemingly forever, making debug tests left and right but to no avail

And then you reach a sort of epiphany when you realize what's been wrong all along
(If you're me, this error usually amounts to a single character or line of code missing)

I of course, bring up this subject because I just reached such a joyous climax myself solving a bug I had left festering for months now

So, anyone care to recount such stories of your own?
Or, if you give the go ahead, I'll recount my own

[Son of Bryce]

This usually happens when I'm doing something else. Sometimes something will suddenly make sense when I'm taking a shower. Or I'll wake up with a solution to my problem.

That's why it's good to take a break and do something else for a while when you're stuck. I often come back to the computer sit back down and the solution reveals itself to me.

A lot of the times explaining it to someone helps me as well. Thinking out the problem and communicating it results in a "duh!" more often than not.

[trogdor458]

This sounds ridiculously familiar suddenly
Your situation is pretty much identical to what I read in my psychology textbook =\

I could go into a good bit of detail about this as a consequence, but I won't bore with the details

I honestly can't explain the thought processes I go through when this sort of thing happens
Feels like a far superior intellect just hands me the answer or something

[tidenburg]

It's painful how many times the problem turns out to be the most ridiculous thing, and usually something I'd check for. A common one for me used to be nested for loops using the same iterating variable ('i' seems to be built in for me).

Solving complex problems makes me giddy, solving half the stupid ones which block me for ages make me cringe at my own stupidity.

[Pazil]

When we aren't thinking hard, our mind starts using Alpha waves more than Beta waves (which are the waves that emit when you're mind is really thinking about something). At the alpha state, our mind and body relax more, and our mind can start browsing on it's own about any subject it wishes, and more creative ideas can come.
When we take a shower, it's pretty much muscle memory, same as driving a car on the highway. This means our brain isn't occupied at all, and it has a chance to think "on it's own", without us forcing it along one line of thought...

I hate when I get a ridiculously good idea in the shower, whether it be for Flash or music mixing, and I forget it half-a-day later!!! Frustrating...especially when you get a perfect melody or solution...grrr, had that happen to me today.

And I really feel that duh moment thing...countless times I've explained a problem to one of my friends (knows nothing of Flash, but is still the most interested person I know), and while I'm explaining, the answer seems too obvious.
Or I'll be searching my code, swapping lines of code here and there, until I realize I didn't instantiate one of my arrays, or forgot to rename a variable...

P.

[trogdor458]

You hit it on the nail I think, Pazil
Though I don't recall reading about alpha/beta waves, I definately remember our trained minds sometimes hindering our progress
(when a solution that usually works everywhere else fails)

I believe I've had a few brilliant ideas I've forgotten as well
In fact, there's this one time, when I was littler, I swear it was the most brilliant thing ever, yet I don't even remember the context

Like if I had discovered the meaning of life and the answer was so mind-boggling it suddenly bursted out of my skull

Tidenburg: I've had a similar bug with recent frequency, but a bit harder to catch because i'd be running a function inside a loop, with that function itself using the same loop iterator

This is what I've been debugging if anyone's curious; been testing various collision types for my physics engine, which I finally jumped back on a bit
(arrow keys for moderate interaction)

EDIT: Any lag is probably due to the upload site I chose

[Incrue]

One of the things that i hate the most is 'bla bla bla some object has a null reference' but dont say WHAT is that object

[tidenburg]

Just check the line number? Although this is still annoying if it's Object1.Object2.property.

[Son of Bryce]

Flex will give you a line number, Flash will only give you as much as a function name. Which helps but still is usually a pain.

[tidenburg]

File -> Publish Settings -> Flash -> Permit Debugging.

Voila, line numbers and specifics?

[Son of Bryce]

Haha! Thanks man!

[Incrue]

File -> Publish Settings -> Flash -> Permit Debugging.

Thanks!
Anyway, when i was doing that, i've found the option...'use GPU acelleration'
wtf!?!?