Weekly Update 04/25/26 – 05/02/26 (FACTS ERP Development, AI Debugging Workflow, Hearing Aid Repair)

This week’s update focuses on ongoing work progress, troubleshooting in FACTS ERP, and a practical example of how AI tools are improving development workflows.

 This week has been focused primarily on work and preparing for my first visit to headquarters next week.

I did run into an issue with my hearing aids. The right side stopped working, and I ended up needing to replace the speaker. Fortunately, the warranty covered the repair, so it was more of an inconvenience than a real problem.

At work, I had a good example of how AI is starting to change the way I approach development. I created a new program in FACTS, where a significant portion of the behavior is driven by metadata files that define how the program operates. I used an existing program as a starting point and copied it to build the new one. However, when I tested it, the new program became stuck in an endless loop.

I initially tried debugging it the traditional way, stepping through the code line by line, but it was clear that approach would take a significant amount of time. Instead, I generated trace files for both the working program and the one stuck in the loop, capturing each line as it executed.

I provided both trace files to Astra (ChatGPT), and it was able to identify the sections of code most likely causing the issue, along with the specific variables I should compare between the two runs. Based on that, I added targeted logging to four related programs and ran both versions again.

After reviewing the new output, Astra was able to isolate the variables that were diverging and causing the loop. I then uploaded the relevant program and metadata files, and it identified the exact file and record responsible. With that information, I was able to make the necessary adjustment and resolve the issue.

 

 

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