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In the tags I frequent on Stack Overflow, a big chunk of questions should be answered with some basic knowledge about how to debug things - ie., teaching the OP to fish - instead of giving a fix for the piece of code presented.

Are there any good debugging tutorials for newbies, especially

  • Basic debugging techniques - understanding a piece of code, finding the problem by walking through it step by step instead of posting on SO and saying "it doesn't work"

  • How to debug simple PHP scripts (For situations like "my POST variables aren't showing", etc.)

  • How to debug Ajax scripts (How to use Firebug to see what gets sent, etc.)

but also other languages and platforms?

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closed as not constructive by maple_shaft Nov 5 '12 at 12:41


2 Answers 2

Many years ago I had a book called Debugging Java. Eventually I threw it out because it didn't contain that much useful stuff for me, but it was a good beginner level book on debugging techniques. As a Java-specific book it is quite outdated and at places ridiculous, but as a general introduction to debugging, it may be useful.

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Here are the tutorials I know for .NET & Visual Studio:

For simple PHP scripts, you can prevent most frustrations by teaching the student how internet works.

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