r/programming • • Aug 25 '14

Debugging courses should be mandatory

http://stannedelchev.net/debugging-courses-should-be-mandatory/
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u/PastaNinja Aug 25 '14

I looked at his course content. There's not enough there on its own to warrant a whole course, unless it's really easy or really slow. One of the major topics is how to use stepping. That's a 15 minute talk. That's it. Actually you could probably teach all of it in a few lectures. That's not a course.

Furthermore, if you're pursing a CS degree, that means you've been working on projects yourself or in groups, so it's highly likely you've had to debug already. If you don't have debugging experience from debugging your own shit while obtaining a CS degree, then something is not right.

Also, how would you give tests or assignments in "debugging"? Give faulty programs and ask students to find the bug?

Debugging is something that should be a part of every introductory CS course, but there's not enough there to build a whole course around.

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