Using the debugger as an integral part of teaching CS1

Traditionally, using a debugger has had the connotation of finding and removing defects. In this paper and presentation, we explore the use of a modern integrated debugger as a program understanding tool for novice programming students in CS1. With the move to Java in the first course, instructors and students are faced with either ignoring the details of object-oriented concept or with explaining the concepts in a way that novices can understand. We show how the debugger can be used to depict the initial construction of an object, the object´s inherited members, and polymorphic calls to the object´s methods. Although each of these concepts can be difficult for beginning programmers, using the debugger to explicitly illustrate these concepts provides students with an opportunity for a much deeper understanding of their programs.