A Think-Aloud Study of Novice Debugging

Debugging is a core skill required by programmers, yet we know little about how to effectively teach the process of debugging. The challenges of learning debugging are compounded for novices who lack experience and are still learning the tools they need to program effectively. In this work, we repor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inACM Transactions on Computing Education Vol. 23; no. 2
Main Authors Whalley, Jacqueline, Settle, Amber, Luxton-Reilly, Andrew
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Association for Computing Machinery 01.06.2023
Subjects
Barriers
Comprehension
Computer Science Education
Evidence Based Practice
Novices
Programming
Protocol Analysis
Teaching Methods
Troubleshooting
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Summary:Debugging is a core skill required by programmers, yet we know little about how to effectively teach the process of debugging. The challenges of learning debugging are compounded for novices who lack experience and are still learning the tools they need to program effectively. In this work, we report a case study in which we used a think-aloud protocol to gain insight into the behaviour of three students engaged in debugging tasks. Our qualitative analysis reveals a variety of helpful practices and barriers that limit the effectiveness of debugging. We observe that comprehension, evidence-based activities, and workflow practices all contribute to novice debugging success. Lack of sustained effort, precision, and methodical processes negatively impact debugging effectiveness. We anticipate that understanding how students engage in debugging tasks will aid future work to address ineffective behaviours and promote effective debugging activities.
DOI:10.1145/3589004