README.md

Debugging with Cursor

In this practice, you'll identify bugs in a Python file and use Cursor to debug it.

1. Download the files from this repo.

2. Install the required packages: pip install -r requirements.txt.

3. Open Cursor.

4. Try running the broken code: python brokencode/sales_analyzer.py.

5. Choose one error message from the output. Copy the entire error and paste it into the Cursor chat with this prompt:

   I'm getting this error with my Python code:

   <paste the error type, e.g. filenotfound error>

   The code is trying to process sales data from a CSV file. Here's the problematic code:

   < paste the relevant lines here and tag the file for context: @sale_analyzer.py >

   Please identify the issue and suggest a fix.

6. If you like the suggestion, use Cursor's Agent Mode to apply the fix directly.

7. Use this prompt to fix the rest of the bugs:

   <filename> is throwing errors when I run it. The input file is <another filename> with columns: date, product, region, sales_amount, quantity. Please review and fix the issues.

8. Upload your debugged code to the platform for validation.

HINT

Try using the debugging prompt pattern:

**Problem + expected vs actual + context files**

**Example prompt**
Problem: My file organiser crashes with "KeyError" when processing files.

**Expected:** Should handle unknown file types gracefully.
**Actual**: Program crashes and stops processing.

**Context files:**
- file_organizer.py (main logic)
- test_files/ (sample files that cause crashes)

**Error message:**
KeyError: '.xyz' in get_file_category() function

You may also ask Cursor to find bugs for you using Ask mode, then switch to Agent Mode to implement solutions.