Debugging (Finding and Fixing Mistakes)

Crash. Boom. Oh no. Did your big tower of blocks just fall down. Did your toy car stop rolling right in the middle of a race. Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them to. It can feel a little tricky, like a puzzle you can't solve. But don't worry, that's when I show up to help. I love looking closely at things to figure out what went wrong. Hello. I'm Debugging, and my job is to help find and fix little mistakes.

I have a very funny story about how I got my name. A long, long time ago, on September 9th, 1947, there was a computer that was as big as a whole room. It had bright flashing lights and made whirring sounds. One day, it just stopped working. Clunk. A very smart lady named Grace Hopper and her friends wanted to find out why. They looked inside the giant machine with their flashlights. And what did they see. They found a real bug. A little fuzzy moth was stuck inside, making the big computer stop. They carefully took the little moth out, and Grace told everyone they were 'debugging' the computer. It was a little joke, and that's how I got my special name.

You are a debugger, too. You use me all the time and you don't even know it. When you try to fit a puzzle piece and it won't go, you turn it around until it fits. That's debugging. When you put your shoes on and they feel funny, you look down and see they are on the wrong feet. You switch them, and now they feel right. That's you being a super debugger. Every time you look closely, find a little problem, and fix it all by yourself, you are doing my favorite thing. You are being a wonderful detective and making things work again.