🔧 Day 7 – Debugging with AI: Learn the “Why,” Not Just the Fix

Today’s post is short—but foundational. We’re not just learning how to fix errors. We’re learning how to think through them with AI as a true assistant, not just a mechanic.

Let’s talk about debugging.

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🐣 A Real Easter Example

It’s Easter Sunday, and I decided to keep things light. So I fired up a simple number guessing game in Python—one I knew had a bug. The error? A common one:

TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'

I pasted the broken code into Cursor and asked:

“Can you help me troubleshoot this code?”

Cursor reviewed it and said the syntax was fine—which was technically true. The error wasn’t a missing colon or typo. It was a logic problem: input() returns a string, and I was comparing it directly to an integer.

I ran it again, but this time I included the actual error message. That changed everything. The AI found the issue, explained the problem, and offered a clean fix.

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🔍 What You Should Learn From This

When debugging, the question you ask AI matters just as much as the code itself.

Don't just say:

“Fix my code.”

Do ask:

“Why am I getting this error?”
“What does this error message mean?”
“What are better ways to structure this logic?”

This teaches you not only how to fix one bug—but how to approach any bug.

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🧪 Today’s Mini-Project: Debug the Game

Here’s the broken version of the number guessing game. Run it. Then use your AI assistant to debug it—not just fix it.

import random

def guess_number():
    secret_number = random.randint(1, 100)
    guess = None

    print("Welcome to the Number Guessing Game!")
    print("I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100.")

    while guess != secret_number:
        guess = input("Enter your guess: ")

        if guess < secret_number:
            print("Too low. Try again.")
        elif guess > secret_number:
            print("Too high. Try again.")
        else:
            print("Congratulations! You guessed the number.")

guess_number()

💡 Hint: What data type does input() return?

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✏️ Reflect

• What was the actual issue in the code?

• How did the AI help you understand it?

• How did your prompt shape the AI’s response?

• Would you have spotted the bug without AI?

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✅ Completion Checklist

• Ran the buggy number guessing game

• Used AI to troubleshoot the error (with an error message!)

• Learned the difference between syntax and logic errors

• Wrote down what you’ll do next time you see a weird bug

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AI won’t always give you the answer on the first try. But if you learn to bring the right questions, you’ll get better responses—and become a much better developer.

See you tomorrow.

📺 Share the video for this lesson: YouTube
📚 Catch up on previous days: Zero to Builder Substack