> Software developers spend 35-50 percent of their time validating and debugging software.1
This is a strong claim, so I looked at the cited source, given the unfortunate experience of having seen many strong claims backed by weak underlying data.
> The research phase will predominantly comprise of short interviews with approximately 10 to 12 organisations that compile code on the LINUX operating environment. These organisations will also fill in the Cambridge Venture Project (CVP) survey to help quantify how much time they spend debugging with and without RDBs. Broader research in the form of the CVP survey with potential users of reversible debuggers will be conducted to gain insights on how much time is currently spent debugging.
Further down:
>49.9% Programming time spent debugging
> According to 54 questionnaire responses to the CVP survey and 11 interviews, based on the question ‘Of the time spent programming, what percentage of your time is spent on the following: (1)fixing bugs (2)making code work (3)designing code (4) writing code.’ (1) and (2) then were grouped as debugging.
While this might be indicative of a widespread phenomena, it doesn't seem to be enough evidence to support the factual and strong claim of the first sentence in the ACM article. There certainly isn't enough information in the cited source alone to decide (and given that, is this really sufficient as a source?).
Perhaps I missed further evidence?
That being said, I won't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Debugging is clearly a time sink in industry, regardless of what the actual percentage is.
I enjoyed this piece overall. I was previously unfamiliar with some of these terms -- specifically incremental vs. entity mindsets -- and it shed some light on work issues I've seen (coincidentally in the debugging technology space). Being someone with an incremental mindset and having worked for someone with an unjustified entity mindset, I found the environment suffered from almost all the problems (and more) you described associated with the latter mindset. Granted, this is anecdotal.
I quite strongly agree that improving the process and mindset behind problem-solving results in a significant improvement to specific skills like debugging software. It's refreshing to see an article like this instead of the many others hyperfocused on specific, less-abstract techniques (and widely-applicable abstract techniques/processes are the most effective use of one's learning time).