Debugging is often viewed as an art form or a craft. This is true for most engineering-related troubleshooting processes (e.g., the art of motorcycle maintenance). We’re usually indoctrinated into the basic moves by a senior developer and are then thrown into the proverbial pool. As a result, even senior engineers sometimes have gaps in their debugging skills. There are very few university courses or books on the subject, so it’s really hard to blame them.
In his book, “Why Programs Fail — A Guide to Systemic Debugging”, Andreas Zeller told a story from his youth working at a computer store. A customer walked into the store with a new Commodore 64 computer. For context: The computers back then booted directly to a basic interpreter; basic would accept line numbers as the first argument. He tried inputting this valid basic line: