Debugging Loops that Teach

Tutoring 180+ students taught me that debugging is a teachable skill. Here's a simple framework I use: ## The Debugging Loop 1. **Reproduce**: Can you make it fail consistently? 2. **Isolate**: What's the smallest input that causes the issue? 3. **Hypothesize**: What could cause this behavior? 4. **Test**: Add print statements or breakpoints 5. **Fix**: Make the smallest change that solves it 6. **Verify**: Test with the original input ## Common Patterns - **Off-by-one errors**: Check loop bounds - **Null pointer exceptions**: Trace object initialization - **Logic errors**: Step through with sample data This systematic approach helped students improve their project quality by 25% and increased test coverage by 20%.