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Comment by phonescreen_man | Hacker News Reader

Fifteen minutes of lost time to a minor bug or incorrect instruction step doesn’t seem like a big issue

I think this should be part of the curriculum - it’s a daily part of the job of a SWE, introduce it in the class, make it fun and explain the frustrations and rewards when figuring out bugs. It’s not a set back of the day, it becomes part of the day, another side adventure to solve.

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Thanks - I was going to chime in on this.

However - I was also an instructor (not high-school, but IT professionals) - and the biggest problem with "15-minute" bugs, or basic knowledge-gaps (like... how to open a command prompt and type correctly) is when you have multiple students who encounter different bugs simultaneously... Which will delay the entire class/session and frustrate those who are not having an issue. (Hopefully those who are not having an issue can proceed independently if there is a workbook/lab instructions)

It's only fun if you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel as it were. If you're no yet convinced that programming is fun or even has any value then this "side adventure" will instantly kill any enthusiasm. Once they 'get' programming and see it as something they want to do, then learning how to deal with these "side quests" has value.

In this case, they're not teaching software engineering. They're teaching CS/programming. Having to figure out finnicky tools gets in the way of that.

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