Is Using AI Helpful for Debugging Code While Learning?

Using AI to debug might seem convenient, but be cautious. If you rely too heavily on it, you risk not improving your problem-solving skills. You have to actively engage with your mistakes to learn from them, not just outsource the thinking process to an AI.

I’ve found that AI’s effectiveness can be hit or miss. For example, when I had a simple code issue, AI missed a basic mistake I made and just told me my code should work. It’s helpful for guidance, but you want to ensure you’re troubleshooting yourself first—real learning happens through understanding your errors!

You can't learn from mistakes you aren't aware of. It's crucial to reason through your program's flaws—this is how you grow as a programmer. Trust yourself to solve problems, and turn to AI only for issues that genuinely stump you.

Definitely make use of your IDE's debugging tools instead of relying solely on AI. Breakpoints, console logs, and other features can help you figure things out. Also, if you do decide to use AI, ensure you deeply engage with its explanations to get the most out of the experience.

AI is good for straightforward issues or when you're stuck on something unfamiliar. However, since you're focusing on DSA, it's best to work through your debugging processes without it. You'll gain a much deeper understanding of data structures that way.