Reflection Paper on The Webinar Title: “AI Debugging 101: A Student's Guide to Smarter Code Fixing”

 

    I attended a webinar titled "AI Debugging 101: A Student's Guide to Smarter Code Fixing." The focus of this event was to enhance our debugging skills and explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can reshape the way students fix code. Organized by the Junior Philippine Computer Society (JPCS), the webinar took place on November 14, 2025. It featured three speakers: Ms. Mylyn Mendoza, who presented on "Introduction to AI and Its Role in Code Debugging"; Ms. Meicaella Fe Buñag, who discussed "AI-Powered Code Optimization Techniques"; and Mr. Emmanuel Arellano, who provided an "Overview of AI Debugging Tools."

    I found the webinar somewhat helpful, but it didn’t dive deeply enough into specific prompts for effectively using AI in debugging code. For me, the session mainly served as an introduction. While it was somewhat inspiring and motivated us to keep pushing ourselves despite the challenges in coding and debugging, I felt it lacked depth.

    The speakers emphasized that, as programmers, we will never feel completely prepared, even if we are familiar with the material. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t deter anyone from pursuing a career in one of today’s most in-demand fields. Many programmers allocate a significant amount of time to research, and one of the essential skills in programming is problem-solving—the ability to address issues that may not be immediately apparent.

    AI has now become an integral part of programming and is particularly beneficial for debugging. Given its foundation on extensive code, AI can aid us in identifying and correcting our errors. It can quickly detect mistakes and help debug our work, saving us the time it would take to do this manually. Additionally, AI can pinpoint errors swiftly while also explaining functions and mistakes, which enhances our understanding of the code. Importantly, AI retains your original code and only makes changes when it detects an error.

    The speakers advised us not to use AI as a shortcut for programming everything. While functionality matters most to companies, understanding how to code is essential. We should view AI as a mentor that helps us grasp coding concepts, making it easier to tackle future projects.

    I believe this knowledge will be particularly useful as I am about to create my own portfolio website. During my first year of college, I worked on a project where I built a responsive website. Although I completed it, the final product was far from perfect, and at that time, I didn’t realize how AI could help improve my work. Now, I believe AI can assist me in learning and debugging my code more effectively.

    Currently, I am outlining my website and taking a comprehensive HTML and CSS course to help me code effectively. I plan to utilize AI only if I encounter significant challenges or need help with debugging. I genuinely enjoy coding, especially since many aspects are straightforward and easy to follow.

    Overall, the webinar was very informative; however, I experienced some difficulties with the application used to host it. Despite these challenges, I learned several valuable insights. I was also pleased to hear about the raffle game with a cash prize. My friend won, and it was a legitimate prize. The game helped keep participants engaged throughout the event.