Debugging Practice

Six snippets, six crashes. For each: read the error message first and say what Python is complaining about, then fix the code, then predict what the fix does. Debugging Step by Step has the method.

Questions

1. SyntaxError: '(' was never closed — what was left unfinished?

   print("See you later!"

2. print(Hello) crashes with NameError: name 'Hello' is not defined. Why does Python treat Hello as a name?
3. age = int("ten") stops with ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'ten'. Translate that into English, then fix.
4. IndentationError: expected an indented block — expected where?

   if score > 90:
   print("Amazing!")

5. ZeroDivisionError: division by zero — but nobody typed a zero.

   people = 0
   print("Slices each:", 8 / people)

6. SyntaxError: expected ':' — fix it, then look again: a second bug is hiding here. Predict what the fixed code does.

   while lives > 0
       print("Still playing")

Answers

Answer 1

The bracket. Every ( needs a ) — add it after the quote and the line prints See you later! exactly once.

Answer 2

Without quotes, Hello looks like a variable — a name — and no variable called Hello exists. Quote it: print("Hello").

Answer 3

“You asked me to turn 'ten' into a whole number, and I cannot.” int() reads digits, not words — int("10") works fine.

Answer 4

Indented under the if. The line after a : must step right so Python knows it belongs to the condition. Indent the print.

Answer 5

The zero arrived by variable — people holds 0, so line 2 divides by zero. Give people a sensible value, or check before dividing.

Answer 6

The while line needs a colon at the end. Fixed, it runs — forever: nothing inside the loop ever changes lives. Crashes announce themselves; logic bugs like this one quietly ruin your day.

Curriculum connection

C2.6

interpret program errors and implement strategies to resolve them

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