The Joy of Old-School Coding After a Stupid Mistake

A developer recounts debugging an Entity Framework Core mapping error, where a one-to-one relationship was incorrectly mapped using a collection, and only integration tests caught the issue. The developer initially considered using AI tools like Copilot but resolved the problem with a one-line code change, reflecting on the satisfaction of old-school debugging.

The other day, it happened again. I had an error message that made me scratch my head https://canro91.github.io/2025/12/09/Debugging . For a moment, I thought, "God, why am I doing this? I should start a garden or something." I copy-pasted the error message into Google. StackOverflow didn't help that much. I was tempted to go to Copilot https://canro91.github.io/2025/07/13/TheProblemWithAI . But I held my horses. A few moments later, "Oooohh, here it is " A one-line code change fixed it. Stupid Entity Framework Core I was in a rush a few days before and I missed a small detail: I used a collection to map a one-to-one relationship https://canro91.github.io/2026/03/11/OneToOne . Simple I know. Only integration tests caught it. For a moment, an error message made me want to quit. A second later, I was back in the game. Yet again. For the nth time. I guess AI doesn't give you that feeling—or does it? Whether you code the old way or with AI, check out Street-Smart Coding—It covers debugging, testing, and many 28 more lessons to help you code like a pro.