I have no idea how I managed to program in PHP for years without Xdebug. Now when an error occurs, it just pops up in my IDE, and I can set breakpoints and see ALL of the local variables including the ones set in the higher up scripts. It makes debugging sooooo much easier.
I feel kind of silly for not assuming a tool like this existed and hunting for it. I’ll never write a var_debug() again. I wonder what other absolutely vital tools are out there that I’m just completely oblivious to.
I think part of the responsibility when you pick up a new language is understanding the framework and tools. Look at existing projects, see how they are doing things, check out a few IDEs, etc.
I dunno, I end up learning new languages to at least a junior dev level multiple times a year, and the tools and frameworks are the first thing I look at. It really seems to help me grasp the just of the language much quicker.