The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2002: §253b Home Papers/Indices prev (§253) Next (§253c)

Presentation IT Education: Best Practices

Recommended Citation: McMahon, R E. Teaching the Art, Science, and Psychology (ASP) of Debugging. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2002, v 19 (San Antonio): §253b. ISSN: 1542-7382.

Teaching the Art, Science, and Psychology (ASP) of Debugging

Handout

Russell E. McMahon    [a1] [a2]
College of Applied Science
University of Cincinnati    [u1] [u2]
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA    [c1] [c2]

As any beginning computer language teacher knows, it doesn't take long before a student produces his/her first bug. Therefore, it is not only important to teach students good programming techniques, but also, how to debug. In a lecture it is important that debugging is addressed early and in a lab situation it is imperative that students practice creating and finding bugs. A student who has no concept of debugging will likely have a difficult time successfully completing homework assignments and thus getting behind in class. A student's failure to successfully debug a program can result in the failure of an important concept from being adequately learned and frustration on both the learner's part and the teacher's part. Students need to also understand that not only is correct syntax important but, also that their own perception of their code is just as important. Ideas on how to conduct lectures, labs, and homework will be given.

Keywords: teaching, bug, debug

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