From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eric Abrahamsen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: finding the hork point in ~/.emacs Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:46:41 -0700 Message-ID: <87bliwzzim.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> References: <877dtljfjk.fsf@ebih.ebihd> <9e70a795-6b9d-a5aa-e042-8c22d1685fa8@mousecar.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="22512"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/28.0.50 (gnu/linux) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Cancel-Lock: sha1:xvNvp3QdsevsYl1j66a7WMBVjfg= Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Aug 27 02:47:11 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1kB64N-0005kq-7D for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 27 Aug 2020 02:47:11 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:60208 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kB64M-0002tK-9P for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:47:10 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:45088) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kB643-0002sr-28 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:46:51 -0400 Original-Received: from static.214.254.202.116.clients.your-server.de ([116.202.254.214]:38846 helo=ciao.gmane.io) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kB641-0001SP-Cr for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:46:50 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.io with local (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1kB63y-0005FU-48 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 27 Aug 2020 02:46:46 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Received-SPF: pass client-ip=116.202.254.214; envelope-from=geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; helo=ciao.gmane.io X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: First seen = 2020/08/26 19:28:04 X-ACL-Warn: Detected OS = Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] [fuzzy] X-Spam_score_int: -15 X-Spam_score: -1.6 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.6 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.25, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.help:123784 Archived-At: ken writes: > On 8/26/20 4:52 PM, Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text > editor wrote: >> ken wrote: >> >>> In another thread I spoke too soon about my >>> ~/.emacs fully working.  A lot of it isn't being >>> executed.  This, to my understanding, means that >>> some code is no longer working (since my recent >>> emacs upgrade).  Is there some really good method >>> or log file or something else which would help >>> finding where the hork point is? >> You can do the so-called binary search, which is >> a fancy name for this method >> >> code_1 >> code_2 >> code_n >> code_m >> >> then do >> >> code_1 >> code_2 >> ;; code_n >> ;; code_m >> >> if it still doesn't work, problem is in 1 or 2, so >> >> code_1 >> ;; code_2 >> ;; code_n >> ;; code_m >> >> if it ... etc > > Yes, good.  I know that technique, and I think it's better known as, > "isolating the problem." No, it's definitely known as binary search, because it's a more specific technique than just commenting out random stuff and hoping. You comment half the file, see if the problem persists. Whether it does or not, you're now able to comment three quarters of the file, then seven eighths, and by this point you've usually found it. No matter how big the file, it's relatively few steps to find the problem.