it started like any other tuesday. the coffee was hot, the ide was running, and my confidence was high. too high, as it turns out.

the setup

i was working on a simple function. nothing fancy, just a data transformer that would take some user input and format it for our api. here's what i wrote:

function formatUserData(imput) {  // spot the typo?
    return {
        userName: imput.name.toLowerCase(),
        userEmail: imput.email.toLowerCase(),
        userPreferences: imput.preferences
    }
}

the descent into madness

everything looked fine. the tests were running. well, trying to run. but something was wrong. the console was screaming at me:

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'name')

what followed was a journey through:

  • checking the api documentation (3 times)
  • debugging the data flow
  • questioning my career choices
  • rewriting the function entirely
  • taking a walk
  • coming back and staring at the screen

the revelation

it wasn't until my colleague casually glanced at my screen and said "hey, you spelled 'input' wrong" that my world came crashing down. four hours of debugging. for a typo. a single typo.

the lessons learned

  1. use typescript. seriously.
  2. take breaks earlier
  3. embrace code reviews, they save lives
  4. laugh at yourself, because programming is humbling

and remember, the next time you're debugging for hours, maybe just maybe, check your spelling first.