The Steps To Debugging

The Key point of debugging is that there is a semi-organized process to follow to find out what's wrong. The key points are:

• Make sure that you can reproduce the error.
• Determine exactly what the problem is
• Eliminate the "obvious" causes.
• Divide the process, separating out the parts that work from the part that doesn't.
• When you reach a dead end, reassess your information, asking where you may be making wrong assumptions or conclusions;
  then step through the process again.
• As you work through the process from start to finish, make predicitions about what should happen and verify that your
  predicitions are fulfilled.

This is a useful set of guidelines as debugging requires tough, logical reasoning to figure out whats wrong.