GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech The Debugging Book • Andreas Zeller & Clare Sudbery
Nov 7, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Andreas Zeller, a prominent computer science researcher and author of The Debugging Book, shares his insights on the often-overlooked art of debugging. He highlights the pressing need for systematic debugging skills and modern tools, stressing that debugging consumes half of development time yet remains underfunded in programming education. Zeller discusses the innovative use of Jupyter notebooks for interactive learning and explains how delta debugging can streamline error identification. He emphasizes debugging's critical role in software quality and business risk.
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Early Debugging On A Casio Calculator
- Andreas Zeller started debugging at 18 on a programmable Casio calculator and sold his games for extra money.
- He spent long nights fixing alignment bugs while learning debugging by doing.
Executable Books Transform Learning
- Zeller combines executable code with prose so readers can run and modify examples instantly in the book.
- The format turns passive reading into an interactive playground for experimenting with debugging ideas.
Teach With Jupyter Notebooks
- Use Jupyter notebooks to mix runnable code, explanatory text, and results for interactive debugging tutorials.
- Present stepwise code examples so readers can execute each step and inspect outcomes immediately.
