Debugging has scarcely been mentioned in this thread. Perhaps the proposed "Right Way" syllabus should include how to debug right along with unit testing and version control, since these three are related tools/skills.
There might be a sort of middle way where you introduce coding first, and then as soon as the project becomes even moderately complex, get into how to fix the bug you just introduced; how you might have avoided it in the first place, with unit testing; and how you could have rolled back, with version control. As a perpetual wannabe (day job that is formally not IT-related, but self-appointed self-taught coder and general-purpose geek for our federal court interpreters' office), I have stumbled and fumbled and learned the hard way for years. One thing I still haven't taken the time to master is proper use of a debugger, so I still rely too heavily on friends like echo and print_r(). I could use a good tutorial or online course in that. -- David Mintz http://davidmintz.org/ It ain't over: http://www.healthcare-now.org/
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