Bugs aren't tricks, they're illusions

Steven Frank has a fun article about the similarities between bug-hunting and figuring out how magic tricks work.

I think there are two different types of magic tricks to decipher:

1. The "psychological" trick. This is possibly the lamest type of all. These tricks usually depend on some legalese, i.e. "Now, ma'am, have we ever met before?" "No (but your assistant talked with me in detail before the show)." These tricks make you feel sorry you spent the mental effort.

2. The "physical" trick. Most magic tricks fall under this category. These can range from incredible demonstrations of sleight-of-hand, to incredibly complicated applications of chemistry and physics. These are really satisfying to figure out.

I leave it up to you to extend Steven's analogy given these categories.

I also liked Isaiah's comment:

My personal faves are when the bugs behave differently in the debugger than they do running in the stand-alone app.

It's like Tivo-ing a magician only to find that when you play it back in slow-mo that the elephant doesn't even disappear after the curtain is pulled back.

This can be infuriating! However, it's best to experience this, because it's an important step towards attaining developer Zen enlightenment. (It also gives you a really macho story to tell your friends.)