We report on responses to a series of four questions designed to identify pre-existing abilities related to debugging and troubleshooting experiences of novice students before they begin programming instruction. The focus of these questions include general troubleshooting, bug location, exploring unfamiliar environments, and describing students'…

Which high-tech products give you the most grief? Surprisingly, more people singled out TiVo and replay digital recording systems than personal computers, according to a recent survey by Best Buy. Nine percent of people said they found these TV devices difficult to use. The same percentage found PDAs (personal digital assistants) difficult. Only 2…