Why does nobody teach beginners to read error messages properly

I was helping a guy in a coding group with a Python script and he kept saying 'it just doesn't work' without even looking at the traceback. The error was literally telling him the issue step by step, he just ignored it. Has anyone else noticed new coders skip the one thing that would actually help them?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_hall1d ago

Honestly, I still do this sometimes and it's 100% my own fault. Last week I spent an hour debugging a typo that was literally highlighted in red in the traceback. Tbh, we've all been that guy who just stares at the blinking cursor hoping the code fixes itself.

joseph_murray81d ago

That "staring at the blinking cursor hoping the code fixes itself" part hit way too close to home. I've definitely sat there for a good five minutes just willing the bug to go away like it's some kind of haunted computer. My personal favorite move is when I type a fix that's completely wrong, run it, get the same error, and then just type it again even slower like that'll make a difference. It's like my brain skips straight to "maybe the computer just needs to hear me out" before I remember to actually read what the error says. How long does it usually take you to snap out of that trance and actually look at the traceback?