A Kids’ Guide – How To Find Common Coding Language Errors

When your kid first starts to write codes, they make mistakes. Mistakes are an indispensable part of our world; we improve only through regular practice and great attention. This is the natural phenomenon of learning and necessary experience to evolve as the best developer in the future. However, it might not be difficult to spot mistakes in regular subjects or verbal languages; finding mistakes in coding can be a bit complicated.  

Sitting with your kid to check what’s wrong is super hard as you might know nothing about coding. If you do not know the ABC of coding, it will be even more complicated to come to terms with it. Fret not! You no longer have to try to understand what’s cooking under the hood. There are some great tips and tricks which you can follow to spot coming coding errors. 

Today, this article will highlight some of the best ways to find coding errors that help your kid understand mistakes easily. Ultimately, this will help your child to understand and learn to code faster and better. So without any further ado, let’s get started! 

Tips and tricks to find common coding errors

Here is the complete list of best ways to find common coding errors – 

Work on Ranges

When your children first right codes, chances are high that some other errors will pop up. One of the things to look for in such a situation is an ‘infinite loop’. Infinite loop is one of the most common errors, which means that the script or the program keeps running unstoppably. Hence it is named so. If the program does not stop, it’s a never-ending process where bugs occur. 

Infinite Loops

Infinite loops generally occur when working with the Java programming language. For example – if your kid starts by writing small codes where they run a program to print the numbers starting from one to nine. Then the coding will probably look like this – 

For(int index = 0; index < 10; index–)

{

 System.out.println(index);

}

We see an error here! Can you or your child spot it? If not, let us give you a clue to identify it! The output of the mentioned code will appear as – 

index = 0

Is index < 10? Yes

Print index 0

index = index – 1 index = -1

Is index < 10? Yes

Print index -1

index = index – 1 index = -2

Is index < 10? Yes

Print index -2

index = index – 1 index = -3

And so on.

The end result here is = -1, -2, etc. it is an example of the infinite loop as the code will never be equal or larger than ten. In order to fix the JAVA programming language, the original code will appear as – 

For(int index = 0; index < 10; index++)

{

 System.out.println(index);

}

When you are going through your kid’s code, pay attention to minute details such as the plus and minus signs used. Other coding languages, such as JavaScript, can be even tougher as signs like plus and minus can make a huge difference. If you understand the significance of these signs in maths and coding, you’ll be able to spot your child’s mistakes.   

How is the infinite loop error solved?

It is not easy to find errors and solve the infinite loop; however, are some ways to do so. Infinite loops are generally problematic in languages such as JavaScript, where accuracy plays a significant role. You will be surprised to know that these can bring a huge difference. 

The Scratch language has a feature known as off by one. Imagine your child has prepared a code which says Hi FamilyName where the ‘FamilyName’ is replaced with the names of mom, dad, and others. Scratch can handle this error if there is a missing name in the list. 

Starting with Python

 Languages such as Python are modern languages with excellent frameworks and libraries and are evolving as the most preferred programming language. Although it is perhaps the most complicated language, it would be easier to work on Python if it used the ‘off by one’ rule such as Scratch does.

Conclusion

Errors can be challenging to solve. Sometimes you might get frustrated; however, don’t be put off by looking at challenges. By following the above-mentioned points, you can detect your child’s common coding errors, which can be solved easily with a little patience and hard work.