Recent bugs deserve a re-read

Sopwith Software Tales are mostly going to be blasts from the past, but for those of you who are mostly here for heroic tales of bugs, I thought it would be worth linking a few more-recent ones.

As a sentiment, it’s also true — we can learn a lot from going back and reading about complicated bug diagnosis. In a team situation, or for a reflective solo developer, it’s a way to improve. Look at how old bugs occurred; were found; and fixed; then plan how to prevent them again.

In short: enBugging, Observing, Debugging and promising-to-do-better-next-time 🫰😇.

• Steppers causing crashes Oct, 2024
  I just realised I’ve yet to write this one up in a full article but if you’re an interested dev, check out the Stack Overflow question and my own answer. Yep, it’s another Apple bug.
• How Apple broke apps on old phones Feb, 2022
  Apple in December 2021 broke apps on phones running iOS earlier than the current version 15. This affected developers all around the world, including Touchgram. Anyone releasing an app update from early December 2021 onwards was likely to be vulnerable.
  I found out about this bug because I did a public demo at a local startup meetup and someone in the crowd downloaded the app and had a crash right there on the spot.
• Apple’s bug, or mine (Sprite bites)? Sep, 2021
  Finding a really obscure bug (Apple acknowledged). A deep exploration from symptoms to working out cause.
  The only other person I found who’d publicly described it did so in 2015, on iOS 9…