Novices' Debugging Behaviors in VB Programming

This study investigates the debugging behaviors of novices in the Visual Basic (VB) programming environment. To understand how novice programmers solve debugging problems, we employed a mixed-method, which used both quantitative and qualitative data, including a questionnaire survey and a debugging-behaviors analysis. Seventy-two students from a vocational high school in Taipei participated in the study. The results indicated that most students believed debugging skill is due to individual aptitude and cannot be developed through learning. Most students did not employ debugging tools provided in Visual Basic environment or even were aware of the existence of the tools. Although most students enjoyed the achievement of resolving bugs, they disliked the challenge of debugging.