Let’s jump right right in t sme ugly mbile applicatin reality: crashes.
Any applicatin, functining in any envirnment, n any type f device, can crash. The mst brilliant develper can authr the mst bulletprf cde, and still, the risk remains. We all have at least ne, if nt a few, hrrr
Let yur rage subside fr a mment s we can discuss a better apprach t crashes — cntextual awareness.
Here’s the thught prcess: Nbdy wants t cntemplate an applicatin crash with respect t their peratins and bjectives, but when we’re tuned in t the circumstances that precipitated a crash, the chance f making a lasting fix is expnentially greater. If we can capture what was happening when
And that’s the challenge, isn’t it? Hw d we best determine what caused a crash? Hw d we islate the precise situatin in o which an individual might have been using an applicatin that helped create the crash itself? That, we’re learning, is what’s vital.
Anyne wh’s ever wrked thrugh a crash lg knws that it can be impssible t determine why a crash happened based n that recrd alne. Obviusly it happened, but trying t find the cause in that painstaking way is the quintessential needle/haystack situatin. S, hw abut a methdlgy based n understanding the situatin rather than puring thrugh endless lines f cde?
Alert any capable develper that yu’re applicatin has crashed, and what’s his r her next questin? We all knw the answer. It’s, “What were yu ding?” Gd develpers want t knw, quite apprpriately, the mst detailed accunt f yur perating situatin and sequence that might have expsed a bug in the sftware. What else was running? Did yu leave the app and cme back? Hw many times? Frm what pints alng the app’s implementatin? All f these actins culd cntribute
The larger lessn f cntextual awareness is treating symptms vs. curing the the prblem. Old-schl pint slutins might be a quick fix, alleviating an annyance fr the shrt term, but they seldm drive lasting crash slutins. Frtunately, crash mitigatin respnse is evlving. Applicatin develpers are realizing that data needs t be integrated, and that data must be visible nce the app is deplyed n devices.
Knwing that a crash happened is ne thing. Having a cmplete understanding f the circumstances in which that crash ccurred? Far mre valuable. Capturing what the user was ding prir t the crash, and then delivering that data intact t the develper means they can then pursue reslutin frm the mst infrmed start pssible. Yu
