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You should ask yourself these questions:
- Is there something the program was supposed to do but which doesn’t seem to be happening? Find the section of the code that performs that function and make sure it is executing when you think it should.
- Is something happening that shouldn’t? Find code in your program that performs that function and see if it is executing when it shouldn’t.
- Is a section of code producing an effect that is not what you expected? Make sure that you understand the code in question, especially if it involves invocations to functions or methods in other Python modules. Read the documentation for the functions you invoke. Try them out by writing simple test cases and checking the results.
In order to program, you need to have a mental model of how programs work. If you write a program that doesn’t do what you expect, very often the problem is not in the program; it’s in your mental model.
The best way to correct your mental model is to break the program into its components (usually the functions and methods) and test each component independently. Once you find the discrepancy between your model and reality, you can solve the problem.
Of course, you should be building and testing components as you develop the program. If you encounter a problem, there should be only a small amount of new code that is not known to be correct.
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